


Fire and Ice

by AngelOfDeath10



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Opposites Attract, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-23 22:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21089117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelOfDeath10/pseuds/AngelOfDeath10
Summary: Heero is a sculptor who is about as taciturn as only Heero can be, Relena is a gardener/society girl.  Opposites attract in every reality.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own no Gundam Wing anything, except a DVD of Endless Waltz, and that's about it.
> 
> Originally written in 2003. Yikes, the archives on this one.

Heero wished that he went to more funerals. Frankly, the atmosphere at funerals was something he had a better handle on. Everyone looked somber and few people talked to one another. There was crying and the occasional attack of hugging by random people who assumed he'd know the deceased but other than that at least he knew how to fit in. He had always been that way. Unfortunately for him, he often only got requests for weddings and celebrations, sometimes birthdays but more often than not just general social events for the upper crust. They weren't his people, they barely knew him, but they knew of him and that meant a lot more. Heero made ice sculptures, and being known as an artist was what got him commissions and allowed him to continue being an artist without other outside jobs. In many ways he was very lucky, but right now he didn't feel very lucky. As he always did, he sat in the corner and tried not to be noticed and watched weeks worth of effort slowly turn from beautiful art into a puddle of water mucking up the table.

The friendly slap to his back came out of nowhere and Heero found himself choking and sputtering on his mouthful of much too sweet punch that held the tang of a slight alcoholic aftertaste. He could very well guess who that was who just interrupted his solitude. The smiling face of his manager came into view. Duo could be such an idiot sometimes. . . well, most of the time really.

"Time to mix with the guests!" Duo declared in a cheerful voice. He waved his drink in the direction of the quietly talking and laughing people dressed in formal gowns and tuxedos. Many of the men looked warm and uncomfortable in the early summer heat, while the women seemed to be doing their best not to sweat. Heero didn't want to converse with these socialites.

"Why do you make me do this every time?" Heero sounded as surly as he felt, as he picked up a napkin from the table he was at and wiped off some punch from his sleeve.

"Because it's good for business, and it's good for you." Duo pulled at Heero's arm, forcing the gruff looking and slightly sticky man to rise from his seat. "And I know that there's a certain person you wouldn't mind meeting. Hilde finally tracked her down and I know for a fact that she's here tonight. Other side of hall, in fact, talking with two friends of hers." Hilde, Duo's down to earth fiancée was the only person Heero knew who could actually shut Duo up. She was the best thing that could have happened to Duo.

"What's her name?" Heero looked much more interested now. Duo didn't even have to pull at him to get him to follow. His mystery woman would soon have a name, and in his chest his heart fluttered erratically. On the surface, however, he looked perfectly calm.

"Why not ask her yourself?" Duo gave him a wink.

"Don't try my patience tonight, Maxwell." When Heero used his last name, Duo knew he shouldn't push too much more. They had known each other long enough that even the impassive Heero could be read by him. It had only taken a little over a decade. They stopped a ways away from a small group of women whose jewels sparkled in the light. That combined with the vibrant colors of their dresses made them easy enough to spot next to a few men in their tuxes. Indeed, Hilde was among them talking to a woman with long honey blond hair. She didn't need to turn around, Heero knew who she was the second he laid eyes on her, but now he could put a name to the mental image. He looked at Duo with narrowed eyes.

"Relena. Relena Peacecraft." Duo smirked. "Nice girl. Comes from old money. Her brother runs Dorlian Enterprises, big in real estate and a little investment as well. I think you know best of all what she does, though." Heero ignored the laughter in his friend's voice. There was nothing that could touch him tonight; she had a name. It fit her well, he thought, Relena had a certain flow to it. He could care less about her family, though, and wished that Duo had stopped at her name. There was no need to make her more unreachable than she already was in Heero's mind.

He had first seen her a year and a half or so ago, when he was making sure the shipment of a nice statue of Apollo, (a work he had been only moderately pleased with on completion) was being handled correctly by the people who had come to move it. The entranceway had been busy with people coming in and out, asking questions and looking panicked. It was a sight he was very familiar with having done this many times before. Events all sort of ran into one another after a while, with the last minute preparations and the changes in schedule. At least his clients could always count on him, as he delivered promptly two hours prior to the start of the event. The only sad part for him was when they inevitably asked him to stay, and he was left to wallow through hours and hours of making uncomfortable conversation with people he didn't particularly want to know. He had seen her on the steps leading into the building that particular day. At the time he had noted how attractive she was, but had not really thought anything of it. She had been arranging flowers with an obscure smile on her face and for a moment Heero was so distracted by her that the movers almost dropped the Apollo while waiting for his instructions. He had gotten too busy to talk to her, if he was going to talk to her at all, and when he had gone to look for her a few minutes later she had already disappeared.

After that first time, he had resigned himself to never knowing who she was. Imagine his surprise when he saw her again not a month later at a wedding of some person he was only vaguely aware of. They had wanted an angel. People often wanted angels, and they were quite boring to make. He tried to put variation into his work however, as being original was part of what made his work unique and highly sought after. Essentially it functioned as a status symbol, but that's why he could charge such exorbitant prices. At any rate, he saw her again, this time twining flowers into a latticed archway. Immediately he recognized her, but it took him a moment to remember from where. By the time he remembered and started to approach her, some people had come barreling through carrying a ladder and he was forced to let them get by. One of them had some trouble and almost dropped the ladder, so Heero did the decent thing and jumped in to help prevent the thing from hitting the ground (and also knocking down a leg of a nearby table). As he held the side of the ladder he watched as his mystery woman descended from the archway and made her way out of the hall. His eyes followed her out, but he couldn't do anything to stop her. He had spent the rest of the evening in a particularly foul temper.

Things continued on in this way for some time, with Heero trying to get up the nerve to say something to her, and just missing her for some reason. She often stayed for the events, just like he did, but unlike him she mixed with the guests well. Rather than interrupt her conversations, he would simply watch her from afar. Always beautiful, always smiling. She couldn't be a part of his world, and fate seemed to be telling him just that. Eventually someone was bound to notice Heero's fascination, and indeed Duo did after a time. When he found out Heero was actually interested in a girl he went into shock and then laughed a lot. He laughed even more when he discovered that Heero didn't even know her name. That was one of the few times in his life he had ever seen Heero blush, if not the only time. Heero still denied he ever did such a thing. Taking action in the way only Duo knew how to, he enlisted the help of his girlfriend (soon to be fiancée) Hilde. All Hilde could find out, as she was incredibly busy at the time with her job in an accounting firm, was that the woman was a florist but only did special requests. Seems that she did a lot of random work, for small weddings, and for birthdays, and sometimes other events, but never funerals. No name though. Seems she had a business card, but all it gave was the number and the words "flowers for special occasions". All in all, very weird but certainly intriguing as well. Now that tax season was over, Hilde was in a much better position to discover who the woman was, and indeed she had moved quickly. Heero felt indebted to her.

Coming out of a long moment of thought, Heero looked down at his sticky hand and sleeve and wondered if maybe he should just go wash his hands first. Duo saw the look of hesitation and grabbed him by the arm again. "No you don't, mister. You are going to talk to her right now, if I have to move your mouth for you." Resisting the urge to dig his heels into the carpet and let Duo struggle to move him, Heero actually let him pull. It would better to get the rejection over with quickly. The edge of Hilde's short bark of laughter came to his ears, and he had a moment of pure panic before he realized that he was being introduced.

". . . na Peacecraft. Nice to meet you, Mr. Yuy. I see your work all over the place, and I've always loved it. Such a shame it isn't permanent." Her voice was so soft, almost muted. Her eyes were much more blue up close.

"Thanks," he mumbled. Glancing at Duo and Hilde, he saw Hilde's brow arch in a distinctive 'say something' gesture. Damn. This is why he hated meeting new people. "You're flowers are nice." God how stupid. He should just get a gun and shoot himself in the head right now, he was doing that badly. Relena smiled in the way of archaic Greek statues, and Heero didn't know what to make of it. Best just to be honest. "I never know what to say when I meet people."

"Me either." Her smile was wider and more genuine now. There was another pause in the conversation. For once Heero actually felt how uncomfortable it was to have silence. It never used to bother him. Curse all this fumbling around. He was a much more accomplished person than this. He wasn't stupid. She just seemed to bring out something in him that couldn't do anything right, and he only barely knew her name. Maybe it would be best to perform a strategic retreat. Unfortunately Duo and Hilde had backed away and were no doubt observing from afar. Relena cleared her throat and took a sip of her water. Some hair fell across her cheek and Heero had to use every speck of willpower not to brush it back. The idea of touching her, even that momentary caress, was too tempting. He was much better at denying himself.

"I'm sorry. . ." Better bite the bullet. "Listen. I may be a bad conversationalist, but it's even worse at these things." He gestured at the many politely talking people who probably did not have much interest in what was going on around them. "This isn't real. Please, could I meet you for some food sometime or something?" He had gone out on a limb and uncharacteristically made a move. The little Duo in his heart cheered. His outer Heero wanted to smack him.

Tilting her head to the side, there was an agonizing moment when she unblinkingly seemed to consider him. She brought a finger up to her lips and tapped the lower one gently a couple times. Pausing, she nodded at him. "Why don't you call me tomorrow? I'll be home all day. Just a moment, I'll go get my card, that has my number on it." She left. Heero stood there, stunned, and squelched the smile threatening to break out on his face. Such a simple thing as agreeing to see him again and he was elated. Warning bells rang in his head, as his emotional defenses alerted him to how much he was putting at risk. The doubts were quickly dispelled the moment she came back, hand outstretched to give him her card. "Both my home and work number is the same. I don't get all that many calls." Heero thanked her and then walked back towards the other side of the hall where he had originally perched himself.

As soon as he sat down Duo and Hilde converged on him like vultures, and demanded to know what happened. When he was less than forthcoming with details, they just got more irritatingly talkative. In response Heero stopped talking altogether, and they left him alone (knowing that he had gone into one of his 'moods' again). Just as he was starting to feel pretty good about tomorrow, he realized that to make arrangements, it meant having to call her. Again, phones and he just did not get along when it involved talking, as he could work the phone just fine. That's why he had an answering machine. People called him, he didn't call people. With a slight groan escaping his lips he slipped a hand through his chocolate hair only to find it stuck halfway in. Stupid Duo. Stupid punch.


	2. Chapter 2

"Relena." As he said her name aloud his breath appeared in the air, a cloud of warm vapor, before being swallowed up by the cold he lived his life in. This was his workshop, what used to be a butcher shop, now turned into his studio. He lived above it in a small apartment, but he hadn't chosen it for the comfy living situation. What was important was the meat freezer, and this was a large one. He could comfortably work here with no interruptions at any time of the year. He got to do his art, and that's what mattered. At least now he didn't have to worry about moving from town to town, or where his next meal would come from anymore. Back in the days after he just got out of art college, that had certainly been a problem. At the age of 19 he had been a vagrant, a wanderer, only stopping long enough to sculpt something in clay or whatever he had money to buy until he couldn't get any more credit and needed to move on. A few years ago he had actually paid off all his debts, and it had been a good feeling. He had laughed aloud that day. Unlike many other artists, he hadn't needed to die first to experience success, even though for a time he was sure he would.

Rubbing his hands together for warmth, a distracted gesture on his part to pass the time and keep moving, he studied the piece. It was almost perfect, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to carve the mouth. Really she was quite perfect down to the hair that he had painstakingly added in strand by strand so that it almost looked like it could fly free from her form. Indeed, some of it was formed to be away from her body as if the wind had blown it just a bit (that had been one of the hardest parts). The bangs, parted slightly messily, drew attention down to the eyes, slightly hooded but still sparkling under the harsh fluorescent lights that he had never bothered to replace in this corner of his workshop. There was a reason he had put her here, and that was because he didn't want to chance someone seeing her. His Galatea, the perfection that at the same time was incomplete: his statue of Relena. Unlike Pygmalion he did not need to ask the gods to bring her to life, but he feared just like the Galatea of legend Relena would reject him. Maybe that's why he had not talked to her all those times in the past. Maybe he had subconsciously prevented himself from doing so.

Checking his watch for what felt like the thousandth time that day, Heero was waiting for noon to pass. Somehow he felt that calling would only be acceptable after noon, but maybe that was just his way to set a deadline so he would in fact call her. It was so tempting to "lose" her number and just forget everything. His life had just gotten under control and she threatened to shake everything loose. The feelings, any feelings, were so new and hot and fast but most importantly they were unfamiliar. When Heero had lived on his own and wandered the country he had always made sure that things were the same in many respects. The shitty apartments were the same, the dead-end part time jobs, the strange hours of sculpting. . . .he could have been anywhere. Even here, with this job, he had a routine and for all he cared he could pick up and move someplace else. Somehow, she was already changing that by her very presence. She was giving character to this experience. Perhaps she was a good change as every fiber of his being wanted to strain towards her, but his mind bucked wildly at the prospect of being tied down. A chill ran through him, and he checked his watch again. With a shake of his head he made his way towards the entrance of the freezer passing through a path made by many half finished works. With a backwards glance at the unfinished statue in the far corner, he switched off the lights and closed the door.

An oppressive heat greeted him on the other side of the door. Quickly removing his various layers of coats and his hat and gloves he was stripped down into what could probably pass for normal clothing. Black corduroy pants and a forest green buttoned down shirt were not his usual work clothes beneath his coats, but subconsciously he had dressed this morning with an eye to seeing Relena. By the time he noticed, he didn't care to change merely to prove to himself that he wasn't that eager. He knew he wanted to see her, there was no use denying his feelings. Approaching the phone that was one of the few things that occupied the front of the store, sitting next to various pieces of paper that no doubt contained order requests or "reminders" from Duo, Heero saw the message light blink. With one eyebrow raised he pressed the button.

"Call her you idiot, and do it now!" *beep* Duo. That idiot.

"Don't listen to Duo, he meddles too much. (But seriously if you don't call that girl I'll call her myself and don't think just because you live like a monk I don't know things about you.)" The threat from Hilde was playful and made him smile internally. "Good luck, from both of us!" *beep* Even if they were irritating, it was still reassuring to know that they were behind him.

Picking up the phone slowly, he took out the already well worn piece of card from his pocket and ran his thumb across it yet again. The number was there in small and bold black letters, and he felt his heart speed up from stress even now. Looking out the large windows at the street, he saw people pass by. A few looked in, but most had gotten used to ignoring the dingy and empty looking shop in this not well populated outskirt of the city. Heero stared at nothing, and collected his thoughts, because he never did anything without a clear plan. He would say hello, he would ask her to meet him for dinner, and then they would arrange a time and place and hang up. It would be very simple. He dialed the number. As it rang he realized he had been holding his breath for some time and let it out in a nervous whoosh, just as the phone was being picked up on the other end. Already he felt unbalanced. "Hello? Relena Peacecraft speaking." Suddenly Heero felt as cold as the inside of his freezer.

"Relena? This is Heero, Heero Yuy. We spoke at the party." Please remember me! His mind called out pitifully. How stupid this made him feel.

"Of course, I'm glad you did call. I got the feeling you might not." Her perception scared him silent a moment. The pause was a little too long though. "Heero? Hello?"

"Yes, yes.. Er. I mean.." This was not going as smoothly as he wanted it to. Accursed phone. Back to the plan. "Would you like to have dinner tonight?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation on her part. Heero wiped a sweaty palm on his pants and switched the phone to his other hand so he could treat the other one similarly. "Where would you like to eat?" Oh no. He hadn't thought she would ask him that. As he mostly ate microwave dinners he didn't care what went into his stomach. There was no time to think about what he was eating when he was using most of his time to sketch out the next sculpture idea, or just to mark time until he ran back downstairs to work on a particularly absorbing piece.

"I don't care. You choose." It was a cop out, but he hoped she would think of something fast. Already he was looking around the room like a caged animal trying to find a way out.

"Well, I haven't had thai food in a while. How about. . ." She listed a few places. Heero made no noise of assent or otherwise. Eventually she got the idea that maybe she should just be decisive for them. "Here," she had Heero write down an address. "Meet me there at 6. I eat early, most of the time, and it would be good since it's a small place anyway and we'd have to wait a long time for a table otherwise."

"Sounds fine to me." Heero stifled a sigh of relief. This was almost over. "See you then."

"Yes, see you. Oh and Heero. . .?" She sounded so gentle and patient.

"Hm?"

"You might think about having someone else handle your calls. You sound terribly frightened of me. I assure you I don't bite. Bye now." The dial tone left a very stunned Heero in its wake.

* * *

He had gotten to the restaurant an hour early. There had been nothing else for him to do. After a while Duo and Hilde called and bugged him about what was said, only to be disappointed and amused in turns. Hilde already loved this girl.

"She's perfect for you Heero! You need someone to get you off balance once in a while. You're whole existence is too controlled." In the background Heero could hear Duo say something snide about his high school days. "Shush you!" Hilde giggled as Duo most likely began tickling her. After a while he extracted himself from the hated phone and went upstairs to attempt to comb his hair. The emphasis was on attempt, because something about his scalp or type of hair seemed to force it in such strange and gravity defying spikes that he thought it was hopeless. He shaved the day's worth of stubble from his face and then found himself with quite a lot of time to kill. That's when he decided to just wait for her at the place. Just like everything else today, that had also proved to be a bad idea because the waiter certainly didn't like someone taking up a table without ordering. Something about his snooty demeanor told Heero he also did not believe someone was coming to meet him soon. Heero had to restrain himself from punching the horrid little man in the face. Really it was only Relena's imminent arrival that stopped him from visiting some violence on this place, his mood was that dark.

When she did come in, exactly on time, it was like the whole place lit up. Part of that could have been because she was wearing all white and it was very reflective, but she had presence as well. She wore a white skirt and tank top, with her hair blowing about her shoulders. Heero caught his breath as for a moment it looked like his statue of her come to life. She saw him and gave a little wave as she joined him, at the last minute he thought to stand to help her into her seat, but the waiter beat him too it. He sat down again, shooting a deathly glare at the interloper. With a frightened glance, the man dropped the menus in front of them and almost ran in the other direction.

"Have you been waiting for me for very long?" her voice was soft and her eyes were kind.

"You have no idea." He said under his breath as he stared at her intently.

"Pardon?"

"Not long at all."

"Oh good."

They looked at their menus for a bit and ordered as soon as they were ready because all Heero had to do was look in the direction of their server, and the frightened man was more than willing to immediately wait on them. Relena folded her hands on the table after taking a sip of water and cocked her head to the side. Heero prepared himself for what would no doubt be boring small talk.

"So why did you choose that time to talk to me? I'd seen you many times before, but you always looked so preoccupied, so I never figured you'd want to speak with me." She'd seen him before? That was something he hadn't expected.

"I didn't know what to say." He paused. "I'm not that good at conversation. Sometimes I feel like people waste their words." He couldn't say that he was too scared to approach her because she was the more desirable and graceful thing he had ever laid eyes on. That would be ridiculous, he being the formidable Heero Yuy.

"You may be right. But I think words can hold a lot of power. An hour of small talk can tell you a lot about a person if you know what to look for." He wondered why she was a florist and not a diplomat, for this woman could win over nations with her charisma. Yet something about her felt not quite right, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Perhaps." He took a drink of water. "Why did you become a florist?" Taking the focus off of him was key. Plus he did want to know more about her.

"Do you want the short or the long version?"

"Long, please." That elicited a smile.

"Well, I always enjoyed taking care of a small rose garden on the family estate when I was younger. Then when I was in boarding school I always had plants in my room, no matter where I was. My science was decent enough so I majored in biology in college to know more about the plants I loved. I thought about continuing on, but really the only reason I would have to go to graduate school would be if I were into experimental research or if I wanted to be a professor. I'm lucky that I have enough money to maintain a business that doesn't really pay very much and still live very well. I try to give back what I can, but really I keep to myself mostly." She seemed to be far away when she said that. The sadness was there even more clearly now.

"You went to boarding school?" Best to bring her back to earth. Her attention snapped back to Heero and her clear eyes gave him a chill of some indefinable emotion.

"Yes. For all of high school, after. . . after I turned 15." There was something missing there, but she obviously didn't want to talk about it. "What about you?"

Heero wondered how much he should tell her. "I, hn, went to a lot of different high schools. Eventually I got fed up with it all and got my G.E.D. and got into an art school as fast as possible. I still didn't enjoy it very much, but at least I got to do my art with fewer interruptions."

"Is that where you met that friendly braided man, Duo right?"

"No, Duo and I went to part of middle school and most of high school together. Or we were in the same grade at least. We were foster kids in the same home. Brothers in a sense." He felt like the words were being torn from him. He didn't like thinking about those times. Back in those days he got in trouble constantly for skipping classes and getting to fights with people who didn't know to leave him well enough alone. Just because he looked somewhat small and skinny didn't mean he couldn't take care of himself. After being expelled from school after school, he finally got a reputation after breaking on boy's arm when he tried to bother him while Heero was reading one of his art books. That was shortly before he got his G.E.D. and skipped town, (much to his foster family's worry.) Only Duo ever sought him out. Duo understood him better than anyone else. They had always both been orphans being bumped around from family to family because they were so much trouble. Honestly, he had hated Duo with a passion when they first met, but he got used to him after a while. It was hard to hate Duo as a general rule.

"Oh, so, your parents. . ." Her words were hesitant. At least there no pity, as that would have been unbearable.

"Don't know. Don't care." His words were gruff, effectively closing off further questioning. An uncomfortable silence fell as they both drank water and averted their eyes from one another. "I'm sorry," Heero said after a moment. "I didn't mean to be so sharp with you, I don't talk about the past."

"That's probably a good idea. It's my fault for asking." She turned her eyes back in his direction. If she always looked at his like this he knew he would never be able to deny her anything. "I always loved your ice sculpture. I remember the first piece you ever did, if you believe that." Heero looked startled. That was years ago. "I mean," she said as she seemed for once to stumble over her words. "All of your pieces are so special but this one really stood out to me, and I asked who did it which is why I remember that it was yours."

"That was the first angel I ever did," First of many, he thought to himself. But that first one was special. He had put at least two months of work into it, he was so nervous about it and everything had to be perfect. Once he had finished both he and Duo had rented a truck and hauled it over themselves with the help of some of Duo buddies. It had been a hell of a day, but everything had gone perfectly. Demands for his work came quickly after that. "It was for the Winner-Catalonia marriage. Quatre was a friend of Duo's from college. Business majors and roommates, or so I understood."

"I'd known Dorothy, the bride, from boarding school. We'd traveled in the same circles. This was before I started doing my florist work on the side. I remember asking her who did the sculpture, and she said that Quatre had found someone named Yuy who was just starting out. I must have stood in front of that piece of art for twenty minutes, just looking at her." Heero was very flattered, but he hid his pleasure and simply watched as Relena's eyes glazed over as she saw back to that day. That was fine with him; it allowed him to stare at her without her noticing. "I remember she looked so very sad, like an angel fallen from heaven. Alone maybe." Heero started at this. None of his pieces had ever been crafted to look particularly sad. If anything it seemed to him as if they lacked the sort of emotion and passion that she said she saw. His brow furrowed.

"It was a joyous occasion. I'm sorry you found my work so depressing."

"Oh no, I'm sure I was the only one who saw it. She was smiling after all. But sometimes I think art has a certain soul to it. Seems to be that the soul you put into your pieces is melancholy." Her next question blew him away. "Are you happy with your life Heero?" This was too much. He felt like his brain was overloading trying to process all the conflicting memories and new emotions.

"Excuse me, Relena, I need to go to the bathroom." She smiled faintly to herself as he beat a hasty retreat.


	3. Chapter 3

Heero stared in the mirror at himself and searched his eyes for answers he knew they didn't hold. In fact the only comfort he received from them was the knowledge that they were not her eyes. She just seemed to draw the pain right out of him, and he wasn't sure he wanted to give it to her. It was a burden enough for him. Why did she think she could take it on within hours of their acquaintance? It was scary. She was laying waste to carefully constructed defenses decades in the making. Normally this would be the point where he would run away from the possibility of getting close to someone, but inside he knew he didn't want to get away from her. This was already getting too damn complex. He ran the faucet a bit and splashed some water on his face, even trying to tame his hair a bit and failing. ::Best not prolong things::, he thought, ::I need to go back out there at some point.:: Steeling himself for the worst, he put on his best jaded expression and sat down again across from Relena. Her back straightened involuntarily - a sign of her increased attention - and he swallowed hard. This was going to be an interesting dinner.

Relena looked at the man across from her. How could someone be so predictable yet so hard to read? His actions were fairly standard based on his personality. The years and years of being fed to the dogs of society had made her a keen judge of character, especially since she liked to observe people, and she got the feeling from Heero that he was a good person. Not that he would let himself give it away, on the surface there was a brick wall stopping anyone from getting close. She had hit it a few times tonight, but she thought that, like the Berlin wall, it just couldn't stand up to the pressure if she worked on it enough. Though she shouldn't expect orgasmic rejoicing. His curt sentences and steady glare were intimidating, too, and all together she wasn't really sure why she agreed to meet him. Her own life was one she led alone, and she had chosen that path for herself, or so she often said to herself. Maybe she wanted to be with him because she knew he too was alone in the world. They could be alone together. But she was moving too quickly, even by her own standards, and she had to take things down a notch so as not to disturb him too much. His escape to the restroom moments ago showed that she was pushing buttons.

"I think that's our food." Relena pointed to the steaming plates of noodles and exotic sauces that reached the table. "That was amazingly fast." She secretly thought maybe the waiter put their orders ahead of other people's just so he could hurry them out, or rather hurry Heero out, that much faster.

"Hm. Yes." Heero regarded his food with skepticism that he carefully hid from Relena. He hadn't had exotic food in a while. Most microwave meals were not terribly exciting at the best of times, and when it wasn't them it was instant rice and some fish. He was rather fond of sushi, but that was about as adventurous as he got with his meals. This practically screamed an upset stomach later. Maybe he'd buy some tums at the corner store when he got home tonight. "What?" Relena had said something. He was spacing out already, what an awful date this must be for her.

"I asked if there was something wrong with your food. You just keep staring at it." Heero shook his head and picked up the chopsticks that, predictably, broke in uneven pieces as he split them. Forging ahead, he started to eat. It tasted well enough, but then the burning began. Whatever he had gotten was death by spice. Choking down the urge to start coughing, he began to sweat a little instead. Surreptitiously, he drank his water and motioned for the waiter to bring more. When the man looked like he was going to ignore Heero, he simply gave his special glare and the man immediately served him. Relena watched this little farce with a great deal of humor. Poor Heero. He was trying so hard to be human for her, but he was out of practice and it was tearing him apart. He didn't need to be talkative or sensitive, he just needed to be him. That's what she loved. The color drained from her face. Did she actually just absently use the L word? She looked to the side, not wanting to meet his eyes and absently took a bite of food.

"Relena." He loved saying her name, although now was not the time to ruminate such things. "Relena." He tried once more, as she seemed to be lost in thought just as he had been earlier. When she finally looked over, Heero hesitantly pointed at her chest. It was somewhat of a difficulty, really, for by pointing out the fact that a peanut sauce laden noodle had landed on her chest proved that he had been staring at her chest at some point. Maybe because she was wearing white she wouldn't connect that fact. On her behalf, she was mortified.

With a sigh, she picked up a napkin and dabbed uselessly at the stained top. She had to pick white, all white, to go out in. Maybe this was inevitable. "You want to get this to go? There's still some light out and I can show you the greenhouses where I work. I can change there too." To invite him over to her house when she barely knew him? The policewoman in her head smacked her really hard. Why had she said that? Oh well, can't take it back now.

"O..K" Heero sounded as if he were really very confused by the offer. Well, that made two of them. The waiter almost cried for joy when Heero motioned for the check. Heero got out a credit card and handed it to the teary eyed man. "I'm sorry about dinner already."

"That's fine. My fault for choosing a white outfit. I don't know what came over me, not that the things I own are very dark. I hate to admit it but I'm rather fond of pastels. Peanut sauce would look just as striking on pink or cream as white." Her grimace was comical. "Clumsy clumsy me." Heero didn't want her to look so sad, but he didn't know how to make her feel better. The waiter returned with the receipt for Heero to sign as well as some boxes to take the food home in. He reached down to take up the plate, but Heero intercepted him partway.

"I can do it." But the waiter seemed determined to do it more efficiently and didn't let go of the plate. In the ensuing tug of war, the plate happened to tip, spilling its wet and noodly contents all over Heero's lap. Closing his eyes, in his attempt to get control over his urge to kill, he heard the waiter tear up the check and walk away with a sigh. Picking up the main mass of it with the cloth napkin, he placed it on the table and got up to escort Relena out as soon as he put his credit card back in his wallet. When they got out onto the street Relena looked down at herself, and then at Heero and a miraculous thing happened. Relena began to laugh. To Heero this was just another piece of evidence as to how bad the date was going. To Relena, this was the first time she had honestly laughed out loud in over a year. It was unexpected, but so pleasing that her mood lifted out of the semi-depression she had been wallowing in for lord knows how long.

"Let's go get cleaned off. I don't think I have any pants you can fit, but I know someone who does who lives close by my house. Still up for seeing my greenhouses?" Her eyebrow arched as she threw her head back. It was like something had been freed in her soul, but she didn't yet want to tell Heero that. He would probably just run away again.

"Of course." Those two words filled both of them with an obscure happiness. Maybe it wasn't a bad date after all.

* * *

Heero felt like an alien environment surrounded him. Maybe it was the strange fragrances, or the way the light was fading turning everything a strange dark green color, but regardless of the origin if the feelings they all connected back to Relena somehow. This was the center of her world and he could feel her touch all around him, in the placement of flowers or even the neat arrangement of tools near the door. Her green house, (or rather houses as she had several for different purposes) was to Relena what that colorless meat freezer was to Heero. Again he felt the hopelessness of relating to a woman who spent her time in the sun among green and living things while he shut himself away in a tomblike freezer. What was he thinking? He stood a moment longer as the desire to leave resolved itself even more in his mind. It would have been easier if it wasn't for the field in between him and the road, which would make his retreating form very easy to catch. Then again, he could run faster than she could, as he always made sure to keep himself in shape with various forms of exercise. Running was good therapy, and you preferably didn't have people around when you did it. His kind of hobby. As Heero continued to work out the semantics of his possible escape, the lights propped around the greenhouse flickered into life.

"Sorry to keep you so long." Relena was changed into a pink color that retained charm even under the harsh false daylight the lamps created. "It got dark faster than I thought it would." Heero's eyes flickered over to the forms behind her. "I was also waiting for them." Moving aside she motioned to a smiling woman who was tall and had short auburn hair. Standing next to her, and who caught his attention more, was the man about his own age with a blank expression in both his eyes and face. Immediately Heero felt himself go on his guard around the man.

"I'm Catherine Bloom. Nice to meet you." Catherine moved forward to shake Heero's hand. After staring for just a moment at the proffered hand, he took it. Catherine didn't look very daunted by his behavior. "You and my brother must be two of a kind. Trowa, don't be so rude. That's my brother, Trowa, we live just down the road. Relena is our only neighbor for miles. If we weren't only twenty minutes away from the city I'm sure I'd go mad, but the quiet out here is nice." She talked like someone who couldn't stand there to be silence in a conversation. Heero continued to be impassive. Catherine sighed.

"Trowa, would you kindly lend Heero some pants? Just for a couple hours while I put his in the wash." Her grin became lopsided. "We had a little trouble at dinner with keeping the food on our plates."

Trowa's expression didn't change, and all this time his eyes had not left Heero. Heero had kept him in his peripheral vision as well and wondered if the man had even blinked once all this time. ". . .sure. . ." After the quiet word of assent he began to walk away from the greenhouse and Heero followed. They got into a small car that Catherine and he had presumably arrived in, and the men drove in silence a little way down the road before pulling into the driveway. The large, obviously renovated, family farm that they lived in seemed elegant and maybe even a little old. Heero wondered briefly if they were from money as well, though a commute would not be too bad considering. When the car stopped, Trowa didn't get out. For a moment both men sat there in silence.

"What are your intentions towards Relena?" The question was soft. Looking over at Trowa directly for the first time since they got in the car, Heero noted how his eyes were obscured by long bangs. This man was extremely hard to read and that was somewhat upsetting. He also had to stifle some anger at the nature of the question. That wasn't anyone else's business but his and Relena's. It seemed as if Trowa was ready to wait all night for an answer, hands frozen on the steering wheel, looking as much like a statue as anything Heero had created.

"If you want to hear that my intentions are entirely honorable, that would be a trite and silly way to resolve this." Heero made his voice even and steady to hide the anger behind his words. "I like her, and I want to be around her. I'm not out to hurt or use her if that's what you are worried about. I don't see how it is any of your business."

"I wasn't trying to insult you." Trowa didn't look aggravated by Heero's words. "Relena is like my little sister. She has had enough pain in her life, and if you cause her any more I may do something drastic. It isn't a threat, it's simply the truth." This man was frightening and cold. Oddly enough, Heero respected him for his protective instinct. That was something he understood, or at least he was starting to. Relena seemed to bring it out in him, and apparently he was not the only one who wished to protect her. It should come as no surprise to him that more than just he thought of her happiness as a precious commodity.

"Do what you wish. I believe in following your emotions." Heero said his bit and then turned to look out the window with great disinterest. Trowa looked over at him finally, with a speculative glint in his eyes.

"I'll get the pants." Heero was pretty sure that was as close to a blessing as he would get from this protective friend of Relena's. He wondered if she even knew she commanded such loyalty. Probably not, as this Trowa character didn't seem to be very talkative. Very like him in that regard. Communication was largely superfluous anyway. It became so dark that he could see his reflection in the window of the car. In the reflection he saw Trowa open the car and put some pants in the back seat before starting the car and driving back. Neither man spoke once again, though the silence seemed less tense somehow. When they arrived back at the greenhouse, pants in tow, Relena and Catherine looked like they had been having a good conversation. Catherine especially had looked very animated as they approached, judging by the hand gestures she was making as she talked. Relena blushed when the men approached them, and Heero arched an eyebrow at her. What had they been talking about anyway?

"Thanks so much Trowa. I'll find a way to repay you someday." Relena stood and brushed some dirt from her hands, as the benches they had been sitting on were a little dusty.

Catherine, as she probably often had to do, spoke for Trowa. "It was no trouble at all. We were just about to go into the city to visit a friend and making a detour to see you is always a pleasure. See you soon. We need to be going. Nice to meet you Mr. Yuy." Trowa looked over at Heero with an arched eyebrow. Evidently, the last name rang a bell, and the knowledge surprised him. Heero nodded to confirm the unspoken question. It was too bad he wasn't the type to talk to others because he thought that Trowa was one of the few people that didn't irritate him. Then again, having friends was just a liability to getting his work done. Catherine and her brother faded from view, and then the sound of their car fading into the night was all that was left. In the meantime, the two that were left in the greenhouse walked around while Relena named the various plants she had put in and why.

There was a little path through the middle, and grass all over the place. This particular greenhouse was her conservatory, she explained, and it was reserved as her own little sanctuary away from work. Whereas the other things she grew in the other two greenhouses she had were destined to be picked, the flowers and bushes in here was only here to be admired where they were. Heero had been right. This was as personal an internal view of herself as she probably gave anyone. That she had shared it with him gave him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. Maybe his dinner wasn't agreeing with him already. After a moment Relena herded Heero into the house so that he could change into the pants and she could put his own stained ones into her washer. As he zipped up the jeans, he couldn't help grimace. These jeans were almost indecently tight, though they fit. Trowa had not looked any smaller than he, so these must really be what he wore casually. What an odd sense of style, and right now it made him increasingly want to hide in the bathroom for the rest of the night.

"Hello?" Relena knocked once more. "You done changing?" The dirty pants destined to be washed were thrust out by a solitary arm, and as she took them and walked away Heero finally got up the nerve to leave the bathroom. He walked a little funny to compensate for the way the jeans were pushing everything so closely to him like a second skin. Perhaps this had been a joke on Trowa's part, but he couldn't see that humorless man doing something like this to a person he didn't know. When Relena returned he saw her stifle a smile, and though it had only been a fraction of a second, it was enough to send him heading straight back towards the bathroom again. "No you don't," Relena grabbed his arm lightly and he halted midstride.

"I look ridiculous."

"I think Trowa needs to buy himself some new pants." Relena regarded Heero's odd look. She walked around him and he tried to follow her with his eyes, waiting for further mocking to ensue. "Though, you still look very nice, so far as I'm concerned. I'd offer you one of my skirts but somehow I think that would only be worse." She motioned for him to follow, and once she had him safely seated in what must have been her living room, she went into the nearby kitchen and he heard various clinking noises that signaled the preparation of some sort of liquid. Coming out with some tang and lumpy cookies, there was an apologetic look on her face. "I haven't been shopping in a while. This is all I can offer in the way of dessert." It didn't matter to him; he wasn't much on dessert in the first place. The fact that this woman who previously was the very picture of poise was now almost twittering when faced with him invading her home seemed very charming.

Relena looked around while at the same time trying not to move her head. Was everything clean? Were there dirty dishes, old laundry, or dirt smudges over things and she had just overlooked it? She almost never had company and inviting Heero had been a spontaneous decision. ::Was it really? You know that ever since you met him you've been curious about him. That's why you have the pictures. . .:: Firmly shushing the voice in her brain, she tried to focus in on the present again as Heero seemed to not be looking at anything but her. His stare was a little unsettling actually. There needed to be some sort of distraction.

"Would you object to some music? I always listen to music while I work. It may be silly, but I think it actually does good for the plants as well. Far more likely it just improves the mood of the person caring for the plant and hence they do a better job, but it can't hurt anything right?" Your babbling Relena! Just put on some music and start some conversation. ::But he just answers with one sentence and then it ends.:: She quieted her sigh as she sifted through CDs. "What would you like to hear?"

". . . Anything is fine." Should she have expected anything else from him? Maybe the mysterious Heero Yuy was nervous too. The thought hadn't occurred to her. Putting in some old jazz, she tried to gauge if maybe he was nervous. The way his posture was so stiff could imply that, but then he always looked like that when she saw him at events too so that didn't say anything. What right did he have to be so neutral? It angered her a little, and the devil in her egged her on to maybe rattle him a bit. There was no men's room to escape to here.

Heero felt a change in atmosphere. It might have been the music, but he felt that it had been carefully selected by Relena to be primarily ambient noise. His instincts could be wrong, but he trusted them more than most things. What was different? There was a peculiar glint in Relena's eye, he thought, as she moved towards him with a flick of her hips and then plunked down right next to him on the couch. Leaning in, he caught a faint floral scent that he hadn't noticed before. She was a lot closer than she had been previously this evening and his eye twitched a little.

"So tell me what you are making. I know you must have some beautiful pieces in the work." Her mouth was parted just a little and as she crossed her legs her foot brushed his calf briefly. Some of her hair brushed his arm as she leaned forward to grab a glass of tang. Twitch.

"There's a cupid for a wedding. I suppose you're invited to that as well. You society types seem to all know one another at these things." Oh no you don't Heero, she thought to herself, don't you try to put mental distance between us just because I closed the physical distance.

"I don't think I've seen you do a cupid before, expect for that one a while ago." He looked at her with narrowed eyes and she realized her mistake too late.

"That was a child's birthday party. There were hardly any people there, except mothers and squalling kids." He had a perfect memory for all his statues and what they were for. Why would she know about that one? Something felt odd about this. Relena looked to the side and put her glass down. Standing, she took out a book from the shelf next to the stereo. Sitting back down again she opened up the book to a random page. A horse of ice was on one page and a flock of birds of a similar medium was on the other. His work. Flipping through he saw what could only be his work. Why did she have a photo album of all this stuff? Even he didn't keep records of any of it. Maybe Duo did for publicity, but Heero could care less. He wasn't sure what this meant. Was Relena more aware of him than he ever was of her all this time?

"I told you I liked the angel you did. But I didn't get a picture and I regretted that. At the next function that I saw a piece of yours at I made sure to have the photographer take a picture, and since then it's been a hobby of mine. I always thought it was a shame all of your work disappeared so quickly, so I thought I could preserve it like this." She blushed. "I wasn't stalking you, I promise. I only took the pictures at the events I attended. The birthday party for Dorothy's son was only different because she knew that I collected these pictures and she. . . I'm just putting my foot in my mouth aren't I?" Heero wondered if his heart would burst where he sat. He couldn't care less if she were obsessed with him or not. If he was honest with himself he could say that he might be just as bad. Hell, she didn't have a lifesized statue of him in her basement.

Following the impulse he had been fighting ever since she had stepped into his life, he leaned over and kissed her. It was tentative, as though seeking her approval after the fact, but when she didn't pull away he became bolder. Finally getting to put a hand in that glorious hair of hers, he held her lips to his and ran his tongue along her teeth until her mouth opened up for him. She tasted like tang, and the thought made him smile. Her arms went around him as she pressed against him and not for the first time that night he cursed the tightness of the jeans, though now the reason for his displeasure was a little different. He wasn't sure how long they were there, just kissing and touching one another but when a loud buzzer broke them from their embrace he was sure he had heard this song on the CD already. How time flies.

"I'll go get you your pants." Relena looked breathless. She stumbled a little as she made her way towards the laundry room. He would certainly be a lot happier in his own pants. Adjusting himself as best he could was difficult when there was no room to actually do so. Regardless of what pants he wore, his state was fairly obvious. Even though his body was screaming for her, (an unusual enough feeling for his naturally stoic self) he had already decided that he wouldn't press the issue with her or even ask. The best thing to do would be to leave right now and never look back. It would only get more complex from here on out and if he left now it would always be a beautiful memory, preserved like his sculptures in the freezer of his memory. That was how it should be, and he knew that was how he had always lived, but when Relena walked in with his pants clutched to her and smiling at him in such a warm way he knew that he couldn't do it.

"I always love warm laundry, even if it is summery out. There's just something so wholesome about it." She gave him a little push in the direction of the bathroom as she went to clear off the table of the ignored dessert stuffs.

* * *

"So, what happened then?" Duo looked expectantly at Heero, who was looking back with a cross expression. Duo was unfazed. It had taken blackmail to even get Heero to talk about the date, (any hopes of no one noticing his Relena statue had apparently been overly optimistic).

"I put on my pants and then she took me home. What did you expect to happen? Now I have work to do, so leave me alone. This may be a hobby for you, but it is MY life." Heero tugged on a glove with an air of finality. Duo followed him into the freezer, braid swinging.

"I can't believe you didn't try anything other than kissing her! She sounds like she's totally into you. I mean the pictures and everything. . ."

"I told you that that doesn't mean anything. She could just like my art. It could mean any number of other things besides wanting me madly, as you so indelicately put it." Heero pushed his friend out of the freezer and grabbed the door handle. "This subject is closed!" He slammed the door shut, and for a moment Duo pounded on the door and asked muffled questions before giving up and (presumably) going to tell Hilde all about it. Maybe she would get Duo to leave him alone, since it was easy enough to get that logical and compassionate girl to side with him for nothing else except to annoy Duo.

Duo's questions had struck a nerve though, and that's why he had gotten angry and let it show.

Why hadn't he wanted to do more with her? How exactly did she feel about him? More importantly, should he see her again?

He shook his head to clear it; there was work to be done. But first he had to finish something very important. He could add the mouth to her statue now, once he also added a few lines on her face.

The way she looked when she laughed had imprinted on his mind and he knew that's how he always wanted her look.

If that was true, then he was already in trouble. There was no walking away from this now.


	4. Chapter 4

"Puh-leeeeeeeze!" Only Duo knew how to be this annoying.

"No." Heero didn't even turn to face his friend. It had been a couple days since his date with Relena, and he had thrown himself into his work with vigor. It had nothing to do with the fact that she had been busy and couldn't see him. Not at all. They weren't rushing things anyway.

"C'mon Heero, it's freezing in here and I need you to say yes so that you'll have time to get presentable." Duo was trying to get him to come to one of those stuffy functions, not as an artist, but just to keep him company. Apparently there were strange commitments that one had to follow through on in the business world. Meeting people, making small talk, exchanging cards. It was just the sort of forced behavior that Heero was worst at. Duo didn't need anyone to back him up. He could close deals with the best of them, and was fairly well known for being easy going on the outside but a demon in negotiations. Having Heero there was totally to relieve his own boredom.

"Why do you assume I'll say yes now, when I've been telling you know ever since you called an hour ago."

"Mainly because, as I was going to tell you before you hung up on me, this is hosted by Dorlian Enterprises and Relena will probably be there." If he had bothered to turn around Heero would have seen an expression smug enough to make him say no just on principle. Lucky for him, he didn't turn around.

". . ." Heero paused. "I don't have a suit."

"I brought two of mine. We're about the same size." Damn Duo and his confidence. He knew that Heero wouldn't be able to say no if Relena was involved. "No shoes though. I'm sure you have something."

"Hn."

Duo ran out to the car and Heero brushed the frost off of himself, emerging from the freezer into the surprisingly warm afternoon air. It was the beginning of a heatwave, and soon he would have to get out the fans from storage. Except for little markers like that, all the seasons seemed the same from the inside of a windowless workshop. That's why winter was the best season, he could pretend that the whole world was his freezer then. He shed his jacket quickly as he began to sweat already. The plastic covering obscured the suit, and Heero grabbed it and dragged himself upstairs (though not as unwillingly as he would have in other circumstances). At least Duo had chosen well enough, it was dark gray, almost black, and three pieces as well. When he got to the tie though. . .

"Duo, you've got to be kidding me! I'm not wearing this!" It was blue, powder blue, and tacky and obvious, as Duo liked to be in little ways. Odds were that anything else would be just as bad.

"I had to try. But Hilde actually anticipated that, here." A piece of fabric slid under the crack at the bottom of the door. Dark blue. Close to the color of his eyes. Heero wondered how someone like him had actually caught someone like her. Truly she had a lot more forethought than Duo did.

Heero emerged, trying to find a comfortable length for the tie. It felt like it was strangling him and his whole body was already starting to sweat under all the layers of fabric. What he wouldn't give to be in his shorts and a tank top. . . but instead he would get to see Relena. A more than fair trade.

"That is the smallest bathroom ever, Heero. Have I told you that before?" Duo had obviously had a bad time changing there. "What do you think?" He posed dramatically in his suit. Heero's eyes grew very wide as he took in his friend.

"White? All white?" Heero couldn't believe Hilde had let him out of the house. "Between that and your braid it's amazing those lawyers and corporate leaders will actually speak to you. Here's your tie."

"Hey! Even better, I thought this could use maybe a little color. Don't you want to comb your hair before we go?" He retied the new addition to his outfit.

With some consternation Heero was silent a moment. "I did comb my hair."

"Shall we go?" Heero nodded and they exited the building quickly to climb into the blessedly air-conditioned car. Relena Relena Relena, his mind chanted, and he tried to crush the litany with his plans for the week. That didn't last long though, as his plans for the week could be summed up as 'work, sleep, eat, go shopping for food at some point.' Eventually they arrived, which Duo redundantly informed him of by singing a melodic "we're heeeere", Heero smacked him once in the back of the head, but lightly as he was only being a little stupid. The Dorlian headquarters were large, but they looked like every other building of glass and steel in the downtown area so in the end there was not much to be impressed by. The two of them found parking at a garage nearby and made their way into the building. For a moment Heero suspected his stomach was upset, but then he realized he was nervous. Nervous? There was no reason to be nervous.

They got off at a floor somewhere in the teens and Duo led him though a hall, taking a right and stopping in front of a pair of open doors. Inside was a large open reception area filled with people in suits with some women in skirts or suits themselves interspersed throughout. There were maybe a hundred or more people there. It was a small gathering compared to the ones Heero usually attended. That was bad, for the fewer people there were, the more you were expected to talk to people. One could get lost at a huge event, but things were personal at these kind of get togethers. He needed to find Relena, and if she was not here and not coming, he needed to abandon Duo as quickly as possible. Being his manager may just be a part time thing for Duo, but it was his life to make his art and it ranked far above shmoozing with oily lawyers and various business people he didn't know and didn't care to. Relena didn't seem to have any personal involvement with her family business, so Heero wasn't that interested in it. It only took a few moments of concerted effort to locate Relena, who in the process of getting some fruit from the various snack trays out for people.

"Heero! What a surprise. I'm so happy you're here!" It was an instantaneous change in aura. Before she seemed almost depressed but now she lit up in his presence. Having witnessed the change up close, Heero felt his heart start to speed up. It was like he was running while standing still.

"I came with Duo." That seemed to explain that. He needed to add more, he felt for she looked a little confused at his short statement. "He said you might be here." Her face colored and she looked down a moment.

"You're very handsome in that suit, but somehow I don't think boots really go with it. Especially not beige ones." Her head came up. "But somehow it's very you, so it works." Heero shrugged. "Talkative as usual I see." As she spoke, he noted a man with long loose light blond hair making his way purposefully towards them. Relena followed his eyes, as he seemed very intent on something, only to find her shoulder supporting the arm of the very person Heero had been looking at.

"Relena. I see you're well. Why didn't you come say hello when you got here?" He was very familiar with Relena, Heero felt an instinct rising in him he couldn't quite name.

"Milliardo, I was really hungry. I skipped lunch so I thought I'd get some food first." She looked not unhappy to get attention from this man. "Milliardo, this is Heero. We're. . ." She searched for the word to describe what they were to one another. Heero was curious as well, but it wasn't to be for him to discover.

"So you're Heero. An artist right? I've seen your ice. . . things all over the place. You must be very busy." If a man could sound catty, Milliardo did.

"Busy enough." Heero's lips pressed together so tight they became a single line where his mouth should have been. Who was this guy?

"Relena, Lu was looking for you, you should say hello." Sensing tension between the men, Relena felt that seeing her sister in law would be a very good idea.

"I'll be right back, ok? Don't go anywhere Heero." She grabbed a strawberry and scurried off to greet Lucretia and get back before things exploded over here.

"So how long have you and Relena been together?" That was a very odd question, Heero felt, but he answered it anyway.

"Maybe a week or so." He wasn't really sure himself. Does one date count as 'going out'?

"She didn't say much about you before. When did you meet?" The question was faster this time.

"A while ago, I suppose." This was getting on his nerves.

"Why are you here? Whom did you come with?" Now Milliardo's eyes were attempting to bore into him, or so he thought.

"I'm here with Maxwell." There could be more than one. "Er, Duo." This man in front of him was far too intense. Why did he want to punch him so badly?

"Do you really think you're good enough for her?" That shocked Heero out of generally irritated state into full righteous anger. This was too much.

"Excuse me?" Maybe he had just heard it wrong. He shouldn't do anything to embarrass himself here, that would be counterproductive on many levels. But most of his concern was for Relena. It would be wonderful to just be able to let loose on this asshole.

"You heard me. Relena is a beautiful, intelligent, talented woman. I'd hate to find out you were just using her." The tone was casual, but threatening. But that didn't matter, because Heero had reached his limit. The punch was very satisfying, all things considered, and all that man's pretty hair flew in the nicest way on his trip to the floor. The drink he had been holding flew backwards and splattered the carpet and some random people. The black eye he would sport tomorrow would look nice with his light hair. Suddenly they found themselves to be the center of attention, but the split second that Heero took to confirm this was enough time for Milliardo to spring up and punch him square in the jaw. They were circling one another, like they were in a bar's back alley, and that was how Relena and Lucretia found them, pulled along by Duo who had witness the whole thing (much to his own amusement).

"Heero!" Relena did not sound happy.

"Milliardo!" Lucretia sounded similarly upset. Both men started and stood upright guiltily. Immediately their hands went to their bruised faces that, without the aid of high adrenaline, were beginning to hurt a lot. "What did you say to him, and I know it was you because I know how you get about Relena." Lucretia glowed with menace.

"And you Heero! I can't believe you got into a fight with my brother!" Relena looked extremely cross.

"Brother?" Heero's eyes threatened to pop from his head. In the background Duo began to laugh, breaking the silence, and all at once people began to talk to one another and disperse. Obviously many a person would know about this tomorrow, and whether that would be bad or good for Heero was yet to be known. Milliardo and Lucretia talked in low tones, with Lu occasionally raising her voice or pushing Milliardo in the shoulder. Relena just glowered at Heero. Even if he was provoked, he knew that he had done something very rash and childish. The worst part was that he knew he wouldn't have reacted like that if he had known that the person he was talking to was not an ex-boyfriend as he as feared, but simply her overprotective brother. This was just horrendous. He had actually allowed jealousy to get the better of his control. Lucretia and Milliardo approached them.

"He told me what he said to you, and I think he should apologize, but that would be like pulling teeth. So maybe you can call it even and at least accept my apology." Milliardo looked sullen but didn't argue. He extended his hand, which Heero took. Everyone seemed mildly satisfied. Relena's brother stalked away as soon as the handshake was over. "I'll talk to you later Relena, it's been too long. Heero, it was a pleasure. Hopefully I'll meet you again under better circumstances." He nodded. After Lu left, Relena still stood there with that disapproving look that hadn't left her face in a while.

Her foot tapped the carpet. "I'd ask you what happened, but somehow I get the feeling you won't tell me." He refused to meet her eyes. With a sigh she grabbed his arm and began pulling him towards the bar. "Let's get some ice for that jaw."

"I'd rather wait somewhere less, er, in the open." Relena nodded and led him to the balcony. Only a few people were out here, and they were absorbed in whatever they were discussing and oblivious to anything else. As Relena left, a form melted out of the shadows. Even if he hadn't seen him, Heero made no appearance of surprise.

"That was quite impressive." Trowa seemed just as at home in the suit as he had in casual clothes in the country. This man was like a chameleon. "I've never seen one of Relena's suitors get the best of her brother. Though he's made sure she hasn't had many suitors."

"What?" Heero was curious even as the thought of other men approaching Relena made him burn. At least he could be grateful to her brother for keeping the others away up until now.

"Milliardo has been like her father ever since she started high school. Being a father and a brother seems to have made him very protective of his last blood relative. I don't think he would have reacted so extremely except that he sees it."

"Sees what?"

"He sees how you're taking her away from him. She was already pretty far gone, but he can't let go." They were silent a moment. Trowa was a mysterious person, seems like he was all over the place lately. That could just be a skewed view of things, however, since there had been no reason to meet him before and he could have been there all along. Trowa seemed to sense his thought pattern. "I'm a lawyer for Dorlian Enterprise's rival's company. She and Catherine grew up next to one another, so even though Catherine is a few years older they were friends."

"Ah." There were more questions he had, but Heero wanted to hear the answers from Relena, not a third party no matter how trustworthy he felt Trowa was. Something itched in Heero's mind. This man was very like him. "You used to like Relena, didn't you?"

Trowa looked startled a moment. "That was a long time ago. We're just friends now." Heero nodded. He probably never told her and just waited for the feeling to fade. That was what Heero almost had done, what he was still arguing with himself to do, and the appeal of the option rose as Trowa didn't look like he particularly regretted his choice. "I think you're good for her." He walked off moments before Relena returned, ice in a cup in one hand and a washcloth in the other. She made a little ice pack and handed it to him to press against his jaw.

"I hope Milli didn't hurt you too much. He's normally very gentle." The look Heero gave her was clearly skeptical. "No really! He tried so hard to take care of me after," her voice faltered and she cleared her throat. "After the accident. He couldn't be everywhere at once and now I think he's overcompensating for lost time. I caught Lu a moment, she was getting ice too, and she told me the short version of what he said. I'm dreadfully sorry."

"Just forget about it." Heero didn't want to think about it either. What he wanted to know was what this accident was, and why she seemed so moved by it. Now was not the time to ask though. "I think I'm going to go home."

"But you just got here. . ." As soon as she said it, she knew there was no way to get him to stay, but she really didn't want him to go. "Next Thursday, not this but the next, I think you should take me out. We'll go wherever you want to go and I'll give you the whole day. Do you have time?" He'd damn well make time. His wan smile was all the encouragement she needed. The hug was sudden and hurt his jaw, but he rather have her in his arms than anything else at that moment.

"See you then." He began to walk off, but stopped a moment. "Tell Duo I left." It was almost an afterthought and he realized that he normally wouldn't have said it. She was already changing him. Was it a good thing? Maybe it didn't matter.

* * *

Normally a demon on the court, Duo felt he wasn't putting much effort into the game today. Heero had been distracted for several days in fact, and the only reason Duo noticed was because he often forgot to be caustic and avoidant. This was a strange new Heero, but Duo didn't mind it other than being very weirded out by it. Wiping some sweat from his brow, he grabbed the basketball and drove in to get closer to the basket. Half heartedly (for Heero), Duo found himself blocked and with a spin he pulled away and made the shot. It hit off the backboard a little too hard and came right back at them.

"Damn. 8-6 to you." For a moment it seemed as if his friend hadn't heard. "I said it's your ball."

"Mm. Ok." He blinked as if still not getting it.

"Ok. Stop. Time out, whatever you want to call it. We have to talk." Duo pulled Heero over a side of the gym and set the ball down by his feet. "Now, what the heck is up?"

For a moment Heero looked dismayed. "I'm going on a date next Thursday."

"Well, you sound like you're going to your own funeral."

"She said I should take her somewhere. I have to choose." Duo grasped the problem in a flash. He has no idea what to do. Besides a one night stand here or there, Heero had had not much contact with the opposite sex in the romantic sense. Dating was an entirely new concept. For once, perfect Heero had found something he couldn't do well or easily and he was scared of messing up. This was not the time to laugh, but Duo felt the smile creeping at the corners of his lips, and they twitched just a little. Noting this, Heero pushed away. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. 8-6 right?" Heero tried to move back to the court but Duo caught his shirt.

"You're not getting away that easily. I know just the thing. You can go out with Hilde and me tonight! This way you'll see some of the nightlife, and I can escape talk of the," he shuddered a moment "wedding. It'll be fun, c'mon."

"I don't really, er, do the whole nightclub scene." What he meant was he didn't dance. Ever. For any reason. Dressing up was silly too.

"I'll help you. You don't need to do anything but hang out and have a few drinks. I promise you it won't be as bad as a root canal." Duo's eyebrows quirked up and down. "Sooooo?"

Anything for Relena. "I guess." Duo gave a whoop and grabbed the ball off the ground. Their game continued, this time with Heero being distracted by thoughts of that evening's festivities.

* * *

Duo was wrong. Going out that night had been worse than a root canal, and he'd be glad to give his friend one himself just so he could have a taste of how horrible it had been. The main reason he was unhappy was not because of the clubs themselves. In some ways the music and the people had been entertaining, but ultimately not something he cared for. The drinks were overpriced and frilly, but again he was neither surprised nor upset by this. What made the night horrible was the women. All those pushy, scantily clad, overly made up women who had come up to him. They would talk to him and flirt with him and the more remote he got, the more they pushed. He knew he wasn't bad looking, but he hadn't ever considered himself particularly attractive. That night he was hit on by no less than eight women and one man, and Heero really hoped that man was simply totally drunk. He had been fondled, pinched, laughed at and he had had to sit through it all with a decent amount of patience until Duo and Hilde got off the dance floor and dragged him to another hole in the wall with the same overpriced drinks and pushy women. What a nightmare. He couldn't see himself bringing Relena any of those places.

The date was tomorrow.

They could go to a movie. But that was overdone. Besides, he wasn't that interested in movies. The things he liked just didn't seem to be the sort of things that you did with another person. He liked his computer, his art, and basketball. Somehow going to an electronics store did not strike him as something she would want to do with him. Going to a museum could be nice. Minimal amount of talking he had to do with that one. It involved art, which he loved, and it could take a bit of time as well. Win! He knew at least that far. A meal at some point could be good. He knew several good Japanese restaurants that he enjoyed. But that couldn't take up a whole day. The museum would close pretty early on a weekday. It was best not to worry. Things would work out somehow. He was good at improvising when in a pinch.

Once again his attention focus on his work, a Chinese style dragon that was only just starting to take shape. He had a lot to do before it was done, but at least he didn't falter or have trouble visualizing his path. If only life were similarly so clear.

* * *

Heero seemed to be absorbed in the shape of one of the figure studies on display. His eyes roamed over it as if assessing its technique. Such a critical eye he had. Even with the masters he could find fault. Nothing was good enough for Heero Yuy, even if it was a masterpiece. Yet, as they looked at the first piece of sculpture an hour or two ago, he said that even the best could not be perfect. What made us human were our flaws. It was a particularly philosophical moment for him, but she attributed it to his rare open happiness at being able to wander among the exhibits. The paintings held a bit of interest, as did the photographs, but they went through those relatively quickly. Once they had hit the glass works he had gotten a glint in his eye. Relena had almost melted at his boyish bliss because of how adorable he was. This was his candy store, and he absorbed it all and incorporated it into his own works. But the mix was unique to him, and it was his creation and not a copy of someone else's (unless the customer wanted a copy of some other work, and then it was remarkable the sort of reproductions he made.) Relena wondered if he had done anything else, where would he be? Whether programmer, lawyer, doctor, or assassin, he would have risen to be the best in whatever he wanted to do. Maybe it was a blessing that he had been gifted with the love of art, but her heart hurt when she thought of how the only real evidence left of most of his work was sitting on her living room shelf. That didn't do him justice. Heero looked up, the most natural smile she had ever seen him give plastered all over his face.

"Let me show you something." He pulled her into a room. There were statues all over, just as the previous room, but these seemed much older. He brought her in front of a Hellenistic piece. A man with curly hair and a beard sat clutching his hands together as if waiting, his face a mask of pain. "This is my favorite piece."

"Why?" Her word was a whisper as she searched for what Heero saw in it.

"I had just come to the city," he said it in a low monotone, but she knew this was a special memory for him. "I had been a failure for so long, and Duo had just found me again and told me to come live with him until I pulled myself together. I had nothing, but I still spent my money for food for the day to get into the museum. Right before it closed, this was the last piece I looked at. It seemed to be as if he was just like me. Waiting for something, unsure of his path. That's when I realized there was no future in how I was living. I got Duo to loan me some money and he asked his friend for a favor to get me some work. . ." He closed up suddenly and Relena knew the soliloquy was over. She was touched that he was giving so much of himself today. It was just what she had wanted. Her hand found his and her fingers wound around his larger and longer ones as best they could. Startled, he looked down at her, then his face softened a moment. At once Relena's breath caught and she wondered if he was going to kiss her but then the clack of shoes echoed through the hall and he pulled back his head. He didn't relinquish her hand though, simply dragging her along on a continued tour of the pieces.

It was around five when he suggested they eat something. Relena wasn't going to say anything, but she was quite hungry. Being the sort of person who often forgot to eat, she could have kept going, but it was nice that they were going to go someplace. They got into his car (which he had picked her up in so that she wouldn't have to drive this time), a black indistinct thing with tinted windows and a spotless interior (probably from lack of use.) The place they went to didn't seem that impressive on the outside, but the food was divine. They had their fill of sushi and rice after a nice light salad and refreshed, made their way into the early evening.

"What a nice night, even if it is pretty warm." A hazy heat had enveloped the concrete that covered everything for miles. It would have been stifling if they had been in the sun, but they moved to the car fairly quickly. Once inside, Heero found that he wasn't sure what to do. He had thought that he would think of something by now, but he had lost track of everything around him. She always did that. Even in the museum he head felt his attention wander and focus in on her. Every piece of art that she had stared overly long at, or something that seemed to spark her interest he had taken special note of as if to measure what her tastes were. As he had expected she liked the more complete pieces, like Greek goddesses and Egyptian queens and paintings of landscapes or people outside. The women were like her, radiating beauty and peace, and the landscapes captured the nature she loved so much. The one thing she seemed to linger at was a painting of Demeter crying over her lost daughter Persephone, her eyes had grown so sad. He had caught attention before she could begin to cry and he had a feeling that it was more than the painting that had moved her. Relena sat, head forward, hair blown back by the air conditioning that she was reveling in. She didn't seem to be able to take the heat of the day. Maybe outside of the city it was cooler.

"Where to?" It was easier to admit he didn't know what to do rather than go somewhere he didn't want to just to have something to do.

"Well. . ." she looked shy. "I want to, I mean if you don't mind, I'd like to see, um, your workshop." Her eyes were so clear today, like someone had tinted some crystal with a sky blue. "Please? I am so curious to see where you spend all your time."

Nononononononono his mind chorused in panic. "Ok." He found himself saying. Starting up the car, it was almost automatic the way he found himself going home. She wanted to see where he worked, and he knew it wouldn't be all that impressive but he could indulge her. As he pulled up to the storefront it finally occurred to him: her statue.

Good God no.

She was already stepping out of the car with a smile as his face became unnaturally pale. This was a disaster. His head hit the steering wheel and a blaring honk brought him back to reality.

Damn it all.


	5. Chapter 5

He was still clutching the steering wheel as she ran up to the front window and tented her eyes with her hands as if she could make out something inside by doing so. She looked so terribly innocent standing there, her hair falling about her at her sides, leaning against the window. So eager. So happy. So not yet frightened of him. Forcing his hands free with a wrench, he climbed out of the car and joined Relena by the door. He wished he could just push a little too hard in the wrong way and break his key in the lock, but he knew that that would just be delaying the inevitable, (in an expensive and stupid way) so he refrained.

She practically skipped into the shop. The sparseness of it seemed a bit depressing: a counter, a cordless phone, an answering machine, glass cases empty and dusty inside, shelves across from the empty cases with various tools laid on them that needed to be fixed, mud tracks on the floor leading back into a doorway. She followed the tracks and came to a space that seemed to have been renovated with a door to the right and then a fair amount of empty space that simply had a tattered olive colored couch and a table and lamp. There was a notebook on the table, and an empty mug. At the far end of the room was a large metal door with coat hooks next to it that held various articles of warm weather clothing. More mud stains led back to the door. But what was the door to the right?

With a gesture she silently asked to open the door. Heero, pensive and unresponsive as ever, just shrugged. She took that as a yes. All that the door hid was a staircase leading up to the second floor. The owners of the butcher shop may or may not have lived up here before, but someone had because the layout was that of a home. She climbed the stairs, smiling at the creaking wood because it was the only noise that anything had made in this place so far. Heero's rooms were furnished yet resembled the store below in sparse furnishings and an overall feeling of absence. Did someone live here? The proof was in front of her, yet it was still hard to believe. This didn't just need a 'woman's touch' in the stereotypical sense, it needed to be worn and used just to look human first. At least the couch downstairs was comfy looking.

"For an artist you sure don't seem to grasp the idea of decorating." Nothing on the walls except for a poster of some exhibition for a sculptor she had never heard of. Other than that, stark white walls greeted her eyes. Living room was expensively furnished with black and green furniture, and expensive electronics systems (though not extravagant or overwhelming). The kitchen looked too clean, like no one ever cooked in there, and the dining room had a nice table set that similarly looked like not a chair had been pulled from it in weeks if not longer. Various sketches and drawing materials were spread out on the table and she assumed the papers were ideas for pieces. Just two more rooms in this flat of his: the bathroom and the bedroom. Heero stayed right behind her, waiting for something. He opened the door to his bedroom for her to look inside; it was neat, just as she had expected. There was a computer system in one side, and what looked to be a closet on another side. Also she noted a small bookshelf near the bed, loaded with books, another door (probably leading to the bathroom) next to that. She walked back into the living room, Heero trailing like her shadow. It was starting to get to that lovely time of day when everything goes all golden in the sunset. She sat down on the couch, and the cushion slowly gave to her weight.

"Well," she began. Heero stood in the doorway looking at her from across the room. "I think your apartment is lovely, but it is perfectly obvious to me that this isn't where you live." He raised both eyebrows. "Show me your workshop. I have a feeling that that is where I'll find you Heero." Oh boy she'd find something, but, ironically, not him. His eye twitched a bit at her request, the only show of his intense nervousness, and they went back downstairs this time with Heero in the lead.

Slowly, as if he could delay this course of events, he opened the door and flicked on the lights. They sputtered a moment and then blazed, filling the dark room with a surprising brightness as facets of ice reflected and refracted the rays. A rush of cold air greeted them as they stepped inside and he closed the door behind them. Some of the things around the room were almost finished, with a polished looking shine that made them brilliant, like crystal illuminated by the sun. Others looked like they had only just been started or only half done and had a rough almost grotesque surface that somehow had its own appeal, as if something living were crawling out of the ice. Many were set up on plastic constructs that looked like they could be lifted fairly easily with the right equipment. Looking at each in turn, they fascinated her as all his work did. A turn of the head, or a flex of a claw gave the impression of motion. Some were set up just so, so that the lines of the body had some balance, even if the position wasn't entirely natural. Part of the luxury of sculpting included not having to deal with the physical limitations of the model, if need be. A buzzing in the corner, and a flash of light alerted her to a piece set off aside from the others.

Heero stared intently at the dragon he had been working on and tried to think of what he was going to do next with it. He thought as hard as he could and stared with great intensity at it, as if that would solve his impending dilemma. Seeing her move towards the statue out of the corner of his eye, his took a little breath and held it unconsciously. She walked around it, looked at it, touched it, and then withdrew to the side. After a few moments she joined him beside the dragon. He was breathing now, but with a little bit of difficulty.

"There's no way you could have made that in just a couple weeks." It was a statement, yet it was also a question.

"You're right."

"It's rather, er, remarkably realistic. Although I don't think I wear such clingy gowns."

Heero swallowed, and realized the thick feeling was because his throat was very dry. "There was one. . . it was a while ago. . . maybe I got it wrong, but I have a very good memory for details."

"Perhaps." Relena looked almost overly calm. Breath coming in short clouds, that disappeared as quickly as they formed. He waited for the storm to break. Maybe it would be best to move out of the room with delicate breakable things in it. She shifted her weight from side to side. Clapping her hands together all of a sudden, he felt his heart stop. "Well, what a pair we are. Secretly doing everything but stalking one another. And to think I was afraid to show you the album!" For the second time since he had known her (or even known of her) Heero saw Relena laugh. It many ways it did seem pretty ridiculous. Two people, each obsessed with one another, yet never meeting through either coincidence or some bizarre stubborn worry about what would happen. Even Heero found himself chuckling.

"What's this?" Relena pointed at him through her mirth. "Is Heero laughing? Oh! Oh! I think he is!" She poked him in the shoulder. "Shall I see you again, or would you prefer to stalk me at your leisure?"

"I never stalked you!" he said though a toothy grin "But if you insist. . ."

"Don't you dare, Mr. Yuy! Or else I will have to counter it by stalking you. Then everything would be a mess. We'd have to coordinate who follows who home." She tapped a finger against her lip. "And my days are already so busy, I just don't know when I'll have time to fit you in." With a shiver, she realized at once just how cold it was in here. What once was a nice change of pace from the outside was now unbearably cold. "Let's get out of here before I become a twin for her." She gestured towards her frozen doppelganger. Heero nodded, and they went back out into what felt like a desert, but Relena felt the goosebumps begin to smooth out from her body, and her shivering began to cease and that was what was important.

Heero felt warmth pool in his stomach, like liquid bliss. She wasn't going to leave him. He still had a chance. In some ways it was unfair how much he wanted her to be with him. Today was almost cruel for it gave him only a taste of her presence, and he wanted her to be with him more than just a day every week or so. She was a light that came into his life and now he saw many things that he couldn't before, like the need for other people, the need for attention, the need to ease the emptiness. Maybe before he could ignore the void that he had placed himself in, but when she was there it had to struggle to overtake him. The hopelessness of giving up was no longer an option. She hadn't caused his loneliness; she just made him aware it existed. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back, and the last of her shivers died away. Relena was plenty warm, but he didn't let go, pressing his cheek against her hair.

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" It was such a quiet question that she almost didn't catch it.

Stepping out of his loose embrace Relena turned to face Heero. "I don't know. . . I mean, I don't think I'm quite ready to. . ."

At first confused, realization hit him. Of course. Obviously the question implied that, but he didn't necessarily want that even if it would be nice. "We don't have to do something you aren't ready for. Just sleep here, only sleep, I promise I'm not asking anything else of you."

Honestly, she didn't need much convincing for either thing, but it was nice to pretend that she could be in his presence all night without anything happening. Rationalization on both their parts ran rampant. "Well, I suppose this way I don't have to drag myself home. Have any movies you want to watch?" Thinking back to how he had wanted to avoid watching movies, an ironic twist pulled at his mouth.

"There's a video store a few blocks away."

"Then, I guess we'll have ourselves a little marathon. Maybe some desert later too?" She found herself getting excited. It was like an old-fashioned middle school sleep over, at least in her mind, partly as a defense to make the concept of sleeping over more innocent. "Let's get a move on! I'm sure we have very different taste in fine cinema, and so this could take a while." She was already heading for the front door.

In shock that she said yes, Heero lingered behind and wondered if he would be able to let her go tomorrow, or ever for that matter.

"You! The slow handsome one. C'mon!" Her cheerful voiced echoed in the empty front room. Finally, he moved in her direction.

*

*

*

Once at the video store Relena had been shocked to find that although Heero was very knowledgeable about many movies in different genres, he had actually seen very few of them. So she picked out a few: Casablanca, The Seven Samurai, and Amalie (she didn't tell him what that one was about). He fished about in his wallet for a much abused scrap of paper with his membership number on it and handed the money over as well. The fact that none of those movies could be short was possibly a good thing, but more likely a bad thing. There was no way to find out more about her if they were intent on a television screen.

The next stop was a corner drug store where Relena only hesitated a moment before choosing some chocolate ice cream that proclaimed itself on the packaging to be 'death by chocolate' as well as a package of microwave popcorn that had the horrific words 'extra buttery' on its front. Was she trying to kill him with cholesterol? She certainly looked very excited and her girlish squeal as they exited, clutching the calorie laden food, forced a feeling to the front of his mind that he had to swiftly put aside before it distracted him.

A bowl of ice cream and two packages of popcorn later, Heero watched a Frenchman and his American friend walk into the mist of an airport with Relena soundly asleep at his side. It was at the end of Amalie, (which Heero had poked Relena in the side, gently, from indignation at being tricked into watching anything romantic) and again during the beginning of Casablanca that he had put his arm around her. Her sigh as she had leaned into him smelled of chocolate, and suddenly it was ok that he had had to watch Amalie and in fact it rapidly gained a soft spot in his heart. Casablanca was much more interesting, but from the sound of Relena's even breathing he knew she was asleep half way through. He watched the movie as to avoid staring at her constantly, as if she woke up and found him doing it, it might alarm her.

However, the movie was over, and to either put in The Seven Samurai, or to go to the bathroom (which he really needed to do) he would have to move her delightful mass. As luck would have it, she didn't wake up when he moved. So, he visited the restroom, shut off all the equipment in the living room, and contemplated the next problem.

Leaving her on the couch was bad form, but the only other option was his bed.

A shiver ran up his back, and he knew it wasn't from the cool because the evening was almost as warm as the day had been and since Heero had no air conditioning since he practically lived in a freezer. Relena in his bed. He wanted to say the words out loud, but resisted. Adding 'with him' was right there on the front of his mind, but he didn't dare. He retreated to change for sleep and brush his teeth of the sticky sugar feeling as well as to consider what he was going to do.

When he returned she was sleeping just as angelically as before. Heero gathered her up and took her into his room, setting her down on his bed and smoothing back the hair from her face. He began to pull away when he felt a tug. She was holding onto his shirt, still asleep, but very clearly not about to let go. Pulling her hand in, she also reeled in Heero to his own bed and curled closely into his side once he had stretched himself out. This was worse than torture for Heero who now could not get away from the face he had tried to distract himself from before. Soft skin, a chocolate stain by the corner of her mouth, and thin pink lips that clenched briefly before her look of tension eased entirely. . . and she threw one leg over his middle. Now he couldn't even hope to get away. Glancing down he saw that her skirt had ridden up showing quite a bit of thigh, and his hands itched to move the skirt up just a bit more. . . Concentrating ver hard on the ceiling, he tried to think of anything besides the supple, no bad word, besides the lithe, AUGH, just as bad.. Besides Relena beside him. There weren't enough sheep on the planet to count for sleep to take hold of him, but eventually exhaustion won out and sweet oblivion relieved his tortured mind and even more tortured body.

*

*

*

Relena experienced the usual temporal distortion upon waking. At first she tried to remember what day it was. That failed, so she simply tried to figure out where she was. That was a little more successful but only just, as it was not where she last remembered being and also was not her own bedroom. The only option that made sense was that she was in Heero's bedroom, as memories of last night surfaced slowly in her hazy mind, but then the warm line of pillows at her side simply couldn't be a warm line of pillows. Turning her head, she saw that the "pillows" were a very tired looking Heero who was still very asleep, and who had his arm thrown across her chest. She would forgive him this time as he was unaware of it, and all their clothes were still on. In fact, she felt terribly uncomfortable (especially as the bra was digging into her) and so she slid off the side of the bed and sought the bathroom to freshen up.

Rather than go back and wake her sleeping prince, she opted for scrounging up some breakfast. The kitchen offered slim possibilities and although the ice cream was tempting, her unwashed teeth seemed to protest further abuse. Besides, what she really wanted were some eggs. The store wasn't too far away, and she knew where the house keys were. The chances of his waking up while she was gone were slim. It would be fun to surprise him, anyway. It was decided. She checked herself to make sure she didn't looked to rumpled, as she had no other clothes to change into, and then started down the stairs with a spring in her step.

A voice echoed up at her.

"Heero, old pal, you better tell me every. . . hey! How are you?" Duo switched gears remarkably quickly, with only a slight pause and a startled glance betraying his absolute shock. He really must be a good businessman, she thought.

"Fine, thank you. Just going out to get some breakfast. Want to come?"

"Well, I am on my lunch break. . ." Duo grinned.

"But it's 10 in the morning."

"So it's an early lunch break." He shrugged and they set off to go find essential food items. Duo thought silently to himself that Hilde was not going to believe this. Maybe he should tell Hilde to get to know Relena a little better. At this rate she'd be part of the family soon, if he was allowed to call Heero family (though he would anyway, even without permission).

"What was Heero like when he was younger?" she found herself asking. They were going slowly, purposefully, as she really did want to find out some things, and Heero was not exactly forthcoming about his life (though she could tell he at least tried around her).

Duo's expression clouded a moment. "Heero was never, well, easy. Even when things were going well he always managed to find someway to take himself out of it. He fought a lot, I recall. But after the first couple fights that he lost he got, er, determined." He put special emphasis on determined. Relena's eyebrows lifted. "He refused to get help, but one day he just went psycho on the bullies that were after him. Apparently he had studied fighting and practiced punching for all that time, and once he knew he could beat them, he did. That's who he was."

Relena was silent a moment and digested this information. "Why art?" Duo looked up at the sky as if an answer would come down from there. If it weren't for the fact that this was the only girl who Heero had ever cracked his shell for, he didn't think he'd be telling her any of this.

"I think it was better than the reality of things. He could create his own worlds, his own people. Life was hell for him, though he was partly responsible for that. At least this was how he could make life conform to his terms." Duo rubbed his chin reflectively. "But I didn't say anything, got that?" Relena nodded. She felt honored to find out a little more about who Heero had been, and probably still was. They really knew so little about one another. She wondered if she should tell him. After refusing to speak to anyone about it for over a decade, Relena was unsure of why she wanted to talk to him now. Maybe it was because it haunted her life, forcing her to withdraw, making her feel more lonely than she should by all rights be. Knowing that her sadness was self indulgent did nothing to stop her in the past. Heero's pain had to be just as deep. Maybe he could understand. Forced to come back to the present by sly questions from the braided man, Relena tried not to blush as she recounted yesterday's events. She gave him a rough account of events, (leaving out waking up next to him in his bed).

"He wouldn't have actually told me anything unless I threatened him. . ." Duo interjected as they entered the store. "You're much nicer about this."

*

*

*

Heero awoke silently and completely. Relena wasn't there, he knew it before he opened his eyes. Woodenly he sat up and let the disappointment wash over him. Getting dressed, he walked into the bathroom and examined the dark smudges beneath his eyes. It was possible he got about three hours of sleep. Four at most. It wasn't enough obviously, but he was awake now and it was no use trying to catch it up. Somehow he found himself too listless to even sleep.

She could have at least woken him to say goodbye.

His thoughts were petulant. A loud bang of a door slamming from below followed by the strains of rapid conversation seemed to be getting closer. Was she back? Who was she with? Why would she bring them here? He rushed over to the stairway, shaving cream still on his chin, and saw Duo, clutching many shopping bags, followed by Relena who almost ran into Duo as he stopped short at the top. Heero's expression was set on stun and it had done its job.

"What is going on?" Seriously, Heero would never need air conditioning with moods like that.

"Don't mind him, he's not a morning person." Duo said over his shoulder.

"But it's barely morning." Relena protested.

"That doesn't answer my question." Heero looked confused and it softened his expression. "Why do you have grocery bags?"

"I'm going to make breakfast, well, more like brunch now." Relena chirped from behind.

"And I'm, heh heh, playing hooky from work." Duo gave his most devilish grin. "I'll just tell them I came down with terrible cramps and couldn't move from the house. I work twice as heard as anyone else, I can make it up easy." Heero hated Duo for being so sure of himself, but he did actually do work well when he put his mind to it.

Relena set the boys to work unwrapping things as she got busy making eggs, bacon, fruit salad, and pancakes. Anticipating the lack of all helpful kitchen implements, she had bought those at the store as well. Soon enough everyone was busy, cutting and mixing, but only Duo and Relena were talking. Heero envied Duo's easy conversational abilities for the first time ever and suddenly had the urge to hit his long time friend. It was an unreasonable impulse so he pushed it aside. It couldn't have anything to do with all of Relena's attention being diverted away from him. Not at all. He attacked some green onions with renewed vigor, almost pulping them.

After a particularly large meal, everyone looked a little groggy from overeating, but terribly content. Suddenly, with a slight lurch as he sprang from the couch, Duo announced his departure. He intended to surprise Hilde at work, thus making his illicit day that much more fun and driving her out of her mind as she was probably in the midst of last minute details before the weekend. Hopefully, by catching her off guard, he could get some attention without being trapped into talking about the wedding. Both Heero and Relena thought he was being overly optimistic but neither one said it aloud. He extracted a promise from Relena to come have dinner with him and Hilde sometime soon, and of course to come to the wedding, and then disappeared leaving a gaping silence where once their constant chatter had existed. Heero felt more relieved, but at the same time uneasy.

Relena cleared her throat and began to clean up, and Heero followed suit. Once everything was cleaned and put away in what had before been almost entirely empty cupboards, both found themselves at a loss. They were both well aware that she needed to go home, but each wished to themselves that she didn't have to. Clean clothes and a shower won out in the end, and Relena picked up her purse.

"I had a lovely time with you Heero." What was he supposed to say now? He chose his default: nothing.

Brave Relena spoke up again. "This Sunday, I mean if you're busy that's fine, but this Sunday I'd like to go driving in the country with you. I could show you the places I grew up around. It could be. . . fun." She finished lamely, her voice dying out as Heero walked up to her.

Grasping her chin, he tilted it up and brought his lips so close to hers that she could feel his shallow breaths slightly enter her partly open mouth. He made no move to close the gap, and she understood in a rush that this was his way of asking permission. Closing her eyes she moved forward the few centimeters to meet his lips, and was rewarded with a sweet kiss. Naturally they both tasted of egg and fruit salad, with the tang of the oranges being most distinctive, but that was merely an incidental thought that passed through each of their minds. Relena leaned into him and felt his arms go about her, tightening, just as his tongue pushed past her lips to enter her mouth. Even when the kiss broke he seemed unwilling to let go, head buried in her hair. Relena, self conscious about not having showered, pulled back and he reluctantly unwound.

"See you Sunday. I'll be there at 11 am." Her heart almost skipped, and it could have without her noticing as it was pounding so quickly. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and started down the stairs, turning with a quick wave before disappearing from his view. Heero touched his lips a moment and smiled to himself. Shaking his head to clear it, he started downstairs and put on his coat. There was a lot of work he needed to get done before Sunday.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, according to my notes, this was the point where I realized I had plotted and paced it horribly but was determined to finish anyway. Older me could learn a lesson in persistence from younger me.

It was an ominous day for an outing. The oppressively hot and dry weather had turned suddenly humid on Saturday, and this Sunday morning large, darkly rolling clouds seemed to swallow the sky. If Heero were the sort of person who believed in signs and portents then he might have been scared of what the day could hold, but all he could muster in his current state was restless impatience. He had been antsy ever since Relena had left his place and it had manifested in an intensive session of work which more than made up for any time he may have lost by seeing her. In fact, if anything else he had been more inspired by her than distracted. Were it not for the fact that he had a firm belief that nothing good could last, then he might have even classified himself as happy. Sentimentality was dangerous, in his perspective, so this was more than a little worrying.

He gave one last mental rundown to make sure all was accounted for before he stepped out of his car and up to her house: Casually but not messily dressed. Check. Prerequisite dessert item he was asked to bring, according to yesterday's phone message. Check. Floral gift recommended by stupid braided friend. Check. Topics of conversation. . . .

Suddenly at a loss he decided to stop clenching the steering wheel and just make his way up to her front door, pie in hand. Before getting out of the car her contemplated the flowers a little more, and then decided either Duo or he really ? idiotic. Giving flowers to a florist? What was his problem? He should have seen right away that it was a braindead offering, but at the time it seemed to make sense when Duo was lecturing him about being good to Relena. Duo was mainly just on edge from the wedding planning as well as an increase in work (somewhat of a punishment for skipping out on a day) and so Heero tried to bear with his talkative friend as well as possible. It seemed to him as if there was something about his life that resembled a bowstring drawn taut. Something was going to happen. But who knows where the arrow would hit.

Or whom.

Damn it.

He sharply knocked on Relena's door, and she answered it with a smile. A little too quickly, really, making Heero wonder if she had been waiting for him to approach the house. Without a word he trust the pie from him as if it were something distasteful to hold, almost smashing it into Relena in his haste to divest himself of the pastry. A brief mix of confusion and amusement played over her face as she took the plastic container from him.

"What kind is it?"

"Cherry."

"Do you like that kind?" He shrugged as if to say that he neither liked nor disliked it. "Well, I like cherry pie, so I'm glad you brought it. It should go well enough with the lunch I dug up for us." She moved back into the house and gestured for him to follow. The semi familiar look and smell of the place made him feel like he was wrapped in Relena. Not an entirely unpleasant thought. The edge of his mouth quirked.

"Where are we going?" Heero called into the kitchen from the living room. Sounds of cracking plastic and drawers being open and shut coincided with Relena's words as she spoke.

"Well, I thought I would show you the house I grew up in. It isn't that far from here, and Milliardo sold it to someone who turned it into a bed and breakfast. They know me so it should be fine to go through and just look." She emerged from the kitchen clutching a basket. "Just humor me with all this." Heero nodded solemnly. They left the house and wandered over to her car. Once the food was stowed away in the trunk and the people in the car, they took off down the country road at a speed that Heero was surprised Relena was willing to go.

They passed fields and breezed through little towns for maybe twenty minutes, with Relena looking more tense and purposeful with each passing mile. Something was building, no less than parallel to the weather in its heavy feeling, and if a person as emotionally dense as he could pick up on it then it was probably very bad. He wondered if showing up today had been a good idea after all. However, as here was where he was, regretting anything seemed a waste of thought. Besides, even a stormy Relena was a beautiful Relena.

They slowed and pulled down a long paved road through a wrought iron gate. Heero felt internally very small as he surveyed the house where Relena grew up, or rather the mansion where she grew up. There was no comparison to his own humble and even sketchy origins. She really was a princess.

At the house itself they were greeted warmly by the people he could only assume were the owners, and all together they went on a tour of the house. More interested in Relena than a building she used to live in, he saw how she seemed surprised by many things. It implied to him that she had not been here in many years, but he kept his thoughts to himself and let others talk. It was a relief when they had finished going through all the public rooms and Relena and he were left to their own devices.

"You want to see the garden I started with? I'm pretty sure they didn't get rid of it." A peal of thunder in the distance as they took out the basket of food and made their way around back didn't bode well for any picnicking plans she may have had, but she was a surprisingly stubborn woman. There were metal tables set up in back and Relena deposited the basket on one of them and then dragged Heero by the hand out towards a copse of trees. They dove into the small forest and after maybe 50 feet it opened up into a small clearing. Roses in various colors, still well tended and in neat rows, met their eyes.

Relena's grip on his arm was very tight and shaking a bit. "This is where I planted my first roses. Then most of those died because I didn't know how to care for them. I got more the next year and fewer died until I finally got things right." Her laugh was short and sharp. "I thought it would be so easy. Just water every so often and everything would take care of itself. And I also refused to let anyone else touch them. I just had to do it myself. Mom never liked that about me." The shiver that ran through her didn't have anything to do with the wind that was picking up as they stood there.

"I suppose your mother was the same way." He couldn't help it. She had exposed the edge of what was troubling her and now he needed to unravel it. Maybe she wanted him to. What other reason would she bring him here for?

"Exactly the same." The fond smile became frozen on her face, robbing it of the gentle intent. "I hated her for it." She walked forward into the roses until she had gone into something approaching the middle of the rectangular patch of flowers, and Heero followed as best as he could though he snagged far more pieces of clothing on the way in. Once he was there, he saw that she was examining the leaves and stem of a yellow rose. "This was the first survivor. The only yellow one too. I thought it deserved to be special after all it went through."

Heero was out of his depth in more ways than one. "It's nice." It was a flower; all flowers seemed pretty much the same to him so far as his regard for them went.

"Mom said that if I played around in the dirt all the time then I'd just ruin my clothes. She also hated that I'd climb the trees around here with Trowa. She was a lady, but I couldn't swallow the etiquette with the same placid satisfaction. Dad always had to step in and moderate all our fights." The tears were starting. It looked as if the sky would not be far behind. "I haven't seen this place since I was 15 and went to boarding school." Her hand wrapped around a stem, clenching, heedless of the thorns. When Heero saw the blood dripping from the side, he interceded.

"Stop it Relena." He didn't know what to do with a crying woman. This was not something he had ever been prepared to face. He took her hand from the stem himself, but lacked anything to wrap it with. "Let's go back." She nodded and they moved through the trees. Before they reached the edge Relena stopped them both.

"I brought you here for a reason Heero." He had known this was coming. The sage-like nod he gave her only made her expression more enigmatic. "I have to tell you how I killed my parents. I like you, I may even love you, but I need you to know this before we go a step further." It felt as if something were strangling him. The surge of elation he felt at her declaration of fondness had been stuffed down so severely at her forbidding words that he was almost physically ill.

"You killed. . . ?" What does anyone say to a declaration like that?

Her shorts bunched around her thighs as she sat down on the ground, leaning against a tree. Heero stayed standing as they both looked at the house, anyone left on the back lawn now seeking shelter from the wind which was blowing much to hard to stay out comfortably.

"Dad had been gone on business, and mom and I were fighting again about what high school I was going to. Summer had just started and things still weren't settled. Well, they were settled if you were my mother. Mom wanted me to go to an all girls academy. Very prestigious. She had gone there and it had been the best time of her life, etc. with all that sort of unconvincing talk. I wanted to go to the coed private school that the rest of my friends were going to. I didn't want to have to start over again. We were screaming at each other when Dad called from the airport." She ripped up some grass from the base of the tree and let it fall through her fingers.

"Oh Heero, I was so angry I was crying while I screamed at her. When I took the call from Dad I pour out everything. My reactionary anger, all the stupid grievances I had been holding. I begged him to come home and talk to her that night. He said he was tired but he'd come home as soon as he finished dropping off some papers to the office. I gave the phone to mom and then went to my room and slammed the door. Even when Mom banged on my door, insisting that we had to talk, I refused to come out. When our butler came up a few hours later I finally came out." She drew her knees into her chest, almost in the fetal position.

"Pagan told me that Dad was rushing to get home and ran a stop sign. The truck that hit him was just so much larger and stopping so quickly in so large a vehicle was almost impossible. Mom had already gone down to identify the body at the hospital."

"Relena. . ." Heero started, but she held up her hand in a gesture to stop his words. Now she sounded choked, as her tears were giving her trouble speaking.

"When Mom got home I was waiting in the entrance hall. She looked like a ghost and ignored me entirely. I asked her questions, and followed down to her room, but she shut the door in my face. I pounded on it and yelled for a while, decided to just sit in front of it until she came out. A day later I had Pagan break down the door, after she wouldn't even come out to talk to Milliardo, who had quit his summer job in his college town to come home after he heard the news. She was in her nicest dress, laying in bed, a bottle of sleeping pills on her nightstand. At least no one had to be called to identify the body." Heero sat down by Relena and very carefully put his arms around her.

"I killed them. My hurried father and my emotionally strung out mother were no match for my selfish need to be petted and given what I wanted. I didn't cry until my acceptance letter came to the all girls school. My mom had secretly applied a long time ago. It was a week or two after the double funeral that the letter came. Milliardo became my guardian and quit school to take over the business and set everything in order. We sold the house that year too. The all girls school really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Her face looked up at his, and despite it's puffy and red look, he felt a surge of protective fondness. But there was something else in him besides empathy, and he realized it was frustration.

This was it? I mean, it was a terrible thing to have your parents wrenched from you, and he'd be the first to admit he didn't know how strong a bond it could be, but to cling to such an incident for well over a decade was almost willfully self destructive. His life had not been great, he had suffered, but he did not dwell on it. Relena had shut herself down to others, seeking an almost hermit-like existence among plants. She had everything in life out there for her, material comforts, friends in people like Trowa and Catherine, and a brother that wanted what was best for her (as much as he still objected to the man). So far as Heero was concerned she had everything and still was miserable. He wanted to be sensitive to her, but exasperation made him even less eloquent than usual.

"Stop crying Relena. You're living in the past." Expecting a comforting word and tight hug, but finding only one of the two, she looked up suddenly angry. She tried to pull away, but Heero was far stronger than she and prevented her from leaving. "Listen to me a minute." She kept struggling. "Listen!" It was the first time he had raised his voice in anger in a long time, but it startled both of them into stillness.

Heero let her go and pushed a hand through his hair with a sigh. "You blame yourself for things that you couldn't have foreseen or prevented. It should end now. Move on, like I did. If I had hated my mother for dying when she had me, or the father that wasn't there, then what would that have gotten me?" He stood up. "You're here, with me, but you ran away into your memories looking for pity, or something. I already love you. I couldn't care less what happened before you came into my life." Oh god. Had he just said that out loud? Judging from the fact that she hadn't slapped him for being his blunt and tactless self, he probably had indeed said that last part out loud. He didn't even know, really, until it had been put into verbal words. With a shock, he realized he meant it too.

"I shouldn't have said anything." This time Relena got up and Heero made no move to halt her progress. "I'm sorry I'm just a spoiled brat to you, living in my own world." She got up and marched quickly towards the house. Heero let her go with a feeling of inevitability. It was only when she disappeared from his sight that he remembered they drove here together. Well, he thought, at least things couldn't get much worse.

With an ironic crack of lightening the rain pelted down on him soaking his clothes instantly, even before the thunder pealed out.

Enough was enough; he wasn't going to leave things like this.

* * *

Relena was sulking in her house when she heard a pounding at her door. Not violent, but definitely insistent, it came in brief bursts of three. She could well guess who would be that persistent and patterned. Being a smart person, she was not blind enough to her own faults to actually think that Heero had been all that out of line. It was she who had invited him into her problems. What she was sulking about was how right he had been. Years of residual guilt, magnified by self-absorption, had only left her with a shy and sad nature. Having such an easy and fake public face had never made her feel better. Then she had seen Heero's art and it seemed so raw and connected to her angst and she had foolishly fallen into obsession.

Now having met the man she had felt she had known for years, obsession had mellowed to become something stronger and subtler. It scared her how much she wanted his approval, but this imagined betrayal should have been something she was ready for. Damn him for being right. Even if she could see his point she didn't have to like it. She got up and wandered over to the door. Her pouty expression turned into helpless mirth at the sight of a dripping, cross, and muddy Heero clutching a similarly muddy basket and some slightly wilted flowers.

"I didn't mean to make you mad at me." The flowers tried their best to hold themselves up. He was as serious and intent as ever.

"I know, Heero. I know." She pulled him inside despite the mud he tracked in. "I'm sorry I left you there. It was very childish of me. What happened to you?" She took the basket from him, lifting the lid and grimacing at what she saw. Nothing could be salvaged to eat.

"The basket started tumbling across the lawn so I ran after it. A gardener thought I was a trespasser and tackled me to the ground. When everything was sorted out, one of the maids gave me a ride back on her way home." The gritty feeling was everywhere, but he wasn't going to complain.

"I'm so sorry Heero." Now tears came to her eyes again, but not from anger or self-pity. "You must think I'm such a. . . there's no excuse for what I did to you. If you want to go, I'd understand." She turned her back to him, as if afraid to look in his face for the answer. His hand on her arm caused her to shift back to facing him and drops of water from his hair were hitting both of them, he was so close.

"Don't be sorry. Just feel better. Things like this happen right?" He said it in such a dismissive manner, as if she hadn't emotionally vomited all over him earlier. The weight of the day was lifted off of her, maybe more than just the day. Things were getting much clearer.

"Why don't you take a shower? I think Trowa's pants are still around here somewhere. Maybe. Or did I return them?" Heero would just as soon not wear those pants again, but a shower did seem like a good idea, as being cold and covered in dirt was not pleasant. "But I insist. I'll go get you a towel." Things seemed to be fine, and Heero was glad. All this emotional stuff was terribly exhausting for someone like him. It was like using a muscle that had atrophied. Relena handed Heero a large towel and ordered him into the bathroom in a commanding tone.

Helping herself to some pie in the kitchen, she was shocked beyond words when Heero walked in clean but wearing nothing but a towel and still dripping a bit.

"You didn't give me any clothes." Really? Had she forgotten? Oh dear. The small and insincere voice in her head mumbled a bit. The nearly naked man in front of her seemed to be waiting for something. Oh yeah. Clothes. Did he really need clothes? Couldn't he just stay like that? "Relena?" The sound of her name broke her random thought loops.

"Hmm?"

"Clothes."

"Oh. Yes. They're in the wash." She took a bite of her pie, thinking to herself that she wasn't very hungry for pie anymore.

"I need some clothes to put on." He was starting to feel like a broken record. Had she hit her head while he was showering or something? Just being around her in a towel was dangerous enough and it needed to end as soon as possible.

Her head shook a bit as if she were clearing it. "Follow me. I'm sure I have some sweatpants that might fit." Wishing belatedly that she had cleared off some of the clothes from the floor of her room, she rooted around while Heero sat down on her bed, back straight as a pole, and waited. He wanted to jump away from her when she sat next to him and rooted through a cloth bag full of clothes, her thigh pressed against his, and instead concentrated on his breathing (as in to keep doing it).

"I think I found some." But the words died to a whisper as she looked into his eyes. Hypnotized, like a small animal caught in a predator's gaze, she found it surprising when he closed the space between them entirely, as if it had been done by magic. Perhaps she had invited this ending through her actions, or maybe she had unconsciously engineered it. Whatever it was, she would certainly thank herself later.

His hand was moving up her shirt with dexterity. She took some initiative and straddled his lap, pushing him back to lie on the bed.

"You'll have to take another shower. . ." Relena wasn't trying to convince him to stop, it had simply occurred to her.

With a satisfied smile Heero felt Relena's bra came loose beneath her shirt. "Then we'll take one together."

* * *

Lying there next to her, a few hours later, Heero swore to himself that he would protect Relena. Whatever form a threat may be in, he would take it upon himself to identify and neutralize before it could get to her. There would be no repeat of the trauma of her childhood, if he could help it. With nothing to fear, maybe she'd let herself trust the world a little more. Duo could help him, and Hilde too. He was no expert about getting a person out of their proverbial shell, but he knew how to make a safety net if nothing else.

His Relena was strong, she probably wouldn't need his help, but she would have it anyway. There must be some way he could get her to let him have that kind of access to her life. This would require more thought. At the moment he was more interested in the blond bundle resting in the crook of his arm, a smug and blissful smile on her face.

"Temptress. . ." his voice softly mumbled.

"mmm?" came her distant reply.

"Nothing." Yes. To protect her happiness he was willing to do anything. It was strange and vaguely exhilarating to have new purpose in his life, like a mission. Maybe this is what commitment felt like, and if so then he was a fool to have avoided it so assiduously for so long. But far more likely this spontaneous new affection for being with another human being was inspired by Relena herself.

The quiet moment was interrupted by a loud grumble from his stomach. Relena sat up a bit and arched her eyebrows at him.

"Well. . . I haven't eaten yet today. Lunch did get rained out, if you recall." Relena conceded to his point with a regal nod and then got up from the bed, dragging the sheet with her and wrapping it around her body like a toga, leaving Heero much colder and more exposed then he generally liked to be. For all he knew his clothes were still in the washer. He grabbed the towel and followed her.

Standing in the kitchen, eating pie (and intensely glad he had bought something he was willing to eat) Heero ran through scenarios in his mind about what he could ask Relena. Moving in together might be too soon, as well as a little scary for him with his odd schedule and her need to be out here with her gardens. That was impractical. His brain had just started to work on some sort of middle ground when the front door burst open and Catherine strode into the living room, shedding her coat. Heero was more alarmed that Relena didn't lock her door than the fact that he was standing in her kitchen wearing nothing but a towel. However, his lack of clothing leapt to the top of Catherine's mind as she came to a full stop, mouth agape. It didn't close when Relena walked into the kitchen, sheet clad, and just about fell over in shock. Heero took another bite of pie and waited to see what happened next, amusement being the keyword of the moment.

"Er. I, um, I got Millardo's invitation and I, er, came to say. . . to say. . . oh damn" Catherine was fumbling with her words and seemed flustered for such a confident and forward woman. "Well, 'oh damn' is NOT what I wanted to say. I wanted to say: congratulations." She looked from Relena to Heero and then turned around left without another word. As soon as the door had closed Relena's legs gave way and she plopped down on the kitchen laughing so hard she was almost crying. When the storm of mirth ended, Heero helped her up again.

"Your clothes will be dry soon." Relena wiped some tears from the side of her eye away with the back of her hand. Her sheet had fallen away from her front a bit and Heero surreptitiously stole a glance while she was distracted while trying to look aloof and unconcerned at the same time.

"Why was Catherine congratulating you?"

"Oh, there is some merger happening. I don't keep up much with the family business, but this is supposed to be really big. We're going to become Peacecraft & Po Enterprises soon, apparently." The name sparked something in Heero's memory, but he pushed it aside. "I thought that, all things considered, you wouldn't want to be in the same room with my brother if you could help it, so I didn't tell you about the party to celebrate next week." Heero felt a slim push of annoyance at the back of his mind at the mention of her brother. Overprotective moron. He'd take care of Relena now.

"Ah." They just hung around and watched TV until Heero's clothes were ready and then he got up to dress and leave. It was getting a bit late and he had more work to complete before the end of tomorrow if he was going to meet his deadlines.

"Sorry about earlier today at the house. Seems like you have been using my washer and dryer more than I have recently." Heero continued to stare at her, as her words became more faint. "The pie was really very good. . ."

"Call me soon and tell me when we can meet again." After giving her a swift kiss goodbye, he walked through the mud and light rain to his car. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

The dragon was finished. It was absolutely exquisite, as were all of his works, and he gave it a cold glance to match its own before the crew hauled it away. Duo had told him that the person who had ordered it, a Mr. Barton, wanted to speak to him personally when he got there. This was unusual since often he was there just as garnish to add to the host's reputation. Inviting the artist to the party called attention to the fact that the person was wealthy enough to hire one. Duo loved it because it was great for business, but Heero hated it because it meant mixing with people. Normally he would just sit by himself and let Duo mix, but unfortunately Hilde absolutely had to have his presence for a dinner with her parents to discuss seating charts. At least Heero didn't have to go through that, (though he expected vicarious torture from Duo whining to him later).

The tuxedo itched and it was warm once again, as if the rain a few days ago had never been and would never come again. The evening sweltered in high humidity. Quick transport was the only thing on his mind, so that his many hours of work did not get ruined before anyone saw it. Belatedly he wondered if Relena wanted a picture of it and then dismissed it as nonsense. He could care less if the memory of his work was preserved. Right? Not one to be tentative about any sort of thought, it was highly alarming that the question had come into his mind. Now was not the time to ponder such things. What he needed to do was focus on the task ahead of him: talking with strangers. The horror of it all.

As soon as he entered the building downtown, he wished he had just made an excuse and called in sick. A familiar looking man with platinum blond hair was getting out of a car followed by a striking woman with short dark hair. In a rush of renewed irritation, Heero decided Duo should fill him in more about what sort of jobs he was getting into. Both men looked daggers at one another until Lu escorted Milliardo firmly into the elevator. A tightly controlled smile graced her classically beautiful face, giving it a strangely stubborn look. The fact that she got Milliardo past Heero without incident was a testament to her skill. Heero's piece had been transported upstairs a while back, and he felt no need to rush up now so he watched guests arrive instead. A few recognized him and gave strained smiles, while one man actually stopped and stood in front of him with a gleam of something in his eye.

"Trowa." It was a statement, and a flat one at that, but it would have to serve as a greeting.

"Heero." After a moment of just standing there watching people file into elevators Heero decided it would be helpful to ask the one person he knew here something he had been wondering since he saw Milliardo.

"Relena is coming, isn't she?" His voice was nervous, and Trowa looked very interested all of a sudden.

"Yes. With Catherine."

"Ah." Heero didn't want to be down here any more. He felt restless. "I'll wait for her upstairs. I need to find someone anyway."

Once he made it to the room that appeared to have been cleared out just for this occasion rather than constructed for it, he tried to mingle. This was a particularly interesting process for a few reasons. The first was that he had to be vigilant to keep Relena's brother as far away as possible. The second was to question people of the whereabouts of whoever this Barton person was without getting into something as messy and undesirable as conversation. The third was the way he obsessively checked the door for Relena's entrance. A sample of this strange mixture of goals ran like this:

"Excuse me." Heero comes up to a group of people laughing softly at some anecdote. They look at him expectantly.

"Do I know you? I swear I've seen you before." A woman comments, waving her glass at him.

"I'm sure you have. Do any of you know a Mr. Barton?" Heero looks over his shoulder in one direction and then another.

"I haven't seen him yet, but I was sure he'd be arriving with - " the woman never finishes her sentence as Heero sees something, and makes a hasty movement in another direction leaving a mass of confused people in his wake. Sometimes being known as a temperamental artist has its upside. If they find out who he is, he'll just be considered that much more interesting and eccentric.

When Relena walked in Heero felt relief and then extreme anxiety. There were so many people here and he didn't know them or her relation to them. If anyone was going to cause her trouble he should know who it was, isolate them, and eliminate the danger. That would mean more talking. Maybe he should enlist Duo's help in the future for reconaissance until he had more of a firm footing. Milliardo got to her first and after a few words from him and then Lu in turns he saw her crane her neck about as if looking for something.

When her eyes met his and she glided over to meet him, dodging the greetings of others to get to his side, he thought that he felt his chest swell with some nameless emotion so severely it must be visible to others. She stretched out her hands, which he took in his own.

"Trowa told me you were here. I should have guessed. You're everywhere these days." From the tone in her voice he could tell that this pleased her quite a bit. "These things are always so stuffy, even though it's a celebration. If you're here it should be more interesting, though I would like it if you could refrain from getting into a fist fight this time." Heero turned a little red in the cheeks at the memory.

"I'll spend the whole evening with you, if you'll let me," and avoid talking to anyone else, he added mentally "But I need to find someone named Barton first."

Relena looked highly confused. "But, erm, Heero, you already saw him." Then something seemed to occur to her and a sparkle lit her eyes. "Why don't you go ask Catherine. She's often very near him at things like these."

"Are they together?" he asked with limited interest. Relena looked more amused and a little disgusted as they searched the crowd.

"I certainly hope not."

"For one thing, I'm pretty sure its illegal." Catherine seemed to jump out of nowhere, followed by Trowa. "Is incest illegal, Trowa?" The silent man just smiled as he moved next to her. Heero, not one to be slow on the uptake, simply turned to Trowa with the usual steely look on his face.

"So why didn't you say anything before?" Heero didn't like people giving him the runaround. Trowa shrugged.

"It didn't really come up. I had assumed you knew I was a Barton." They studied one another for a moment. A mutual understanding seemed to be reached while the girls watched the silent exchange with increasing boredom.

"Ok, you two, before you stand there and stare one another into the ground - even if it is a friendly stare - the rest of us need a little vocalization to keep the night lively. Why don't you take us over to meet your boss, Trowa." Catherine broke the silence and maneuvered them all in the direction of the large windows overlooking the city where a crowd of people were gathered around an individual. They let Trowa through and the woman whom up until now appeared to have been doing something similar to holding court turned to smile at them.

"Trowa! Is this your sister?" The lady smiled while the man standing with his arms crossed beside her frowned.

"Catherine Bloom. Pleasure. And this is Relena Peacecraft and Heero Yuy." Catherine took over so that Trowa didn't have to.

"I'm Sally Po. I think I've met you before Relena, but maybe I just feel like I have. Your brother mentions you often." Relena seemed a little discomfited by that comment. "Oh, and this must be the renowned Mr. Yuy! I half didn't believe my eyes when Trowa asked for such an outrageous amount for a piece of ice, but once I saw that dragon I knew it was worth every penny." She had such a happy way about her. The man mumbled something behind her. "What's that Wufei? This is Wufei Chang. He didn't even want to have a party, but I told him it just had to be done. He's my VP, and I don't think I'd be more than a struggling business if not for him." Wufei looked flustered by her words.

"Quiet, woman." He gave a stern grimace at everyone.

"Don't mind him. I don't."

Catherine and Sally began to talk to one another in a rapid fashion and everyone else watched for a moment before Trowa began to talk to Wufei about some sort of legal issue. The two men looked relieved to be back in something for like their element and as Heero walked away with Relena on his arm he could have sworn he saw Trowa wink at him. He was grateful for any time he could have Relena to himself. The nervousness overtook him again. Was he making the right decision? It seemed to be the most logical one.

He ushered Relena over to the drapes at the edge of the window. Moving behind a table of food so that it was very difficult for others to approach he decided that now was as good as next Monday (when they had planned to meet next). Maybe this was better, in fact, because they were already dressed up and the mood in the room was very positive in general.

"Relena?"

"Yes?"

"Marry me."


	7. Chapter 7

"Marry me."

Relena felt her eyelid twitch, then her hand, and then the rest of her body. It was as if someone had attached small electrodes to all of her nerves and she couldn't stop them. After the shock had passed, she tried to come to grips with things in a different manner.

"That's not a very funny joke Heero." Oh please say he's joking, her inner voice chorused.

"Since when have I had a sense of humor?" It was his usual deadpan delivery.

The twitching tried to start up again, but Relena stifled it for the sake of her drink, which was mostly on the floor now anyway. In her dreams of running off with a handsome man, things happened like this all the time. They would meet, fall in love, and he would propose and magically whisk her away to live happily ever after. Of course she stopped daydreaming about that when she was in middle school, and even now the idea inspired a nightmare of logistical problems. Her soul was romantic, and it screamed YES, but everything that made her responsible and practical forced her to harden her expression and forge ahead.

"Why, then? We barely know one another, really." It hurt to say it so coldly, but this was not the time to show weakness, when her heart felt like it could be swayed.

Heero looked vexed, his eyebrows drawn down in concentration as he plotted out his answer mentally. He hadn't expected this. He was sure it was a yes or no question, and this gray area was alarming. Making something up would be too much trouble, but a warning bell in his mind (a very faint one) tried to alert him that what he was about to say was not going to be received well. Ignoring it was so easy.

"This way is the most logical." Relena's eyes grew wide and now her own eyebrows drew together. Heero kept going. "You see, if I'm going to take care of you then I need to be able to keep better track of you. The most obvious answers to this are constant visitation, cohabitation, or marriage. Naturally constant visitation is cumbersome as it puts a strain on our resources, such as time and gas, etc. Cohabitation runs the risk of angering your brother, and I don't feel that would be wise at this juncture. Marriage makes the most sense." Relena rubbed a temple with little circular motions. Despite all the signs that he should stop, he kept going anyway. "As for barely knowing each other. . . people have known one another for less time and have had less basis for a compatible marriage and it has worked. I don't see why this should be so unbelievable."

"Good lord, Heero, you could have just offered to buy me a pager." Her voice began to rise and she had stopped rubbing her head. "Or maybe you should just get me a damn tracking collar, if it's so important to you!" Stares were starting to be directed their way, and it seemed like alarms were sounding in his head with flashing red lights and people panicking, and everything. He had never had less control on a situation in his life.

"Relena, maybe we could talk about this out. . "

"Out where? You sure you can keep track of me if I decide to talk to some people on the way? Maybe you should tackle them, or run a background check before I continue seeing any more people socially."

"You can never be too careful. . ." No! Bad Yuy! The words had just slipped out somehow. Relena turned a pretty purple as the dam burst on her temper.

"That's it! I was a fool to think that I could have a normal, happy relationship. Don't bother calling me, I have caller ID and I guarantee I won't pick up. Good-bye Heero." Her attempt to storm away from him was partially ruined by a couple things. The first was the fact that she trod upon her long dress and she strode purposefully out and Heero had to catch her before she fell. The other problem was both Milliardo and Lucretia descending on Heero at once, while the room stared. Lu was trying to stop Milliardo from calling Heero out, and ended up having to punch him herself to keep him from jumping the poor boy, who just stood there in shock.

Sally, that wonderful woman, managed to distract a few people and start up a loud conversation about something inconsequential and soon people drifted away to talk about various things, but primarily what had just occurred. After a few moments Trowa came up to Heero, shaking his head in a sympathetic manner.

"She's going to be angry for a while, but she'll get over it." They were comforting words and Heero seemed to snap out of his trance.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Heero screwed up his face with a pained scowl. "Why would she act so unreasonably?"

"Not that I'm an expert on women, but in my experience there is usually a ring involved, as well as more history between the individuals. At least, that's what I caught from what Catherine was talking to Sally about."

The urge to run through the large floor to ceiling window in a shower of glass only to end his misery many many floors beneath him seemed somewhat appealing at that moment. But, seeing as Heero was neither truly suicidal nor crazy, he opted instead to leave as soon as he was reasonably sure Relena had enough time to exit the building before him.

Back at the house, still in his suit, with a partially full bottle of wine by his side, Heero called up Duo. It had taken a long time for him to get drunk enough to even think about calling Duo, but at the moment he needed to talk to someone as all Duo knew how to do was talk it seemed to make sense at the time. Heero was maybe two sentences into his story when Duo interrupted him.

"Heero, buddy, you sound a little funny, like you have a lisp or something."

"As ushual Duo, you are annnnn idiot. I am drunk. I'd think you would know the shigns." There was silence on the other end for longer than either person was really aware of.

"I'll be over soon. Don't go anywhere." As Duo hung up and grabbed his keys off the dresser, Hilde came in with some list or another that undoubtedly had to do with their forthcoming wedding. Never had he blessed Heero's existence then at that moment.

Hilde watched Duo fly around the room, braid flapping against his back. "What are you doing?"

"Heero's drunk." With a gasp and in a properly grave tone Duo tried to convey to her the gravity of the situation. "I've only seen him drunk once before. Let's just say, it isn't a good thing."

* * *

Bottles littered the floor of the room. Something that resembled one of the programs about animals who do funny tricks was playing while Heero stared at it with a blank look in his eyes. There was no sound on. The whole setup was eerie.

"Rob a liquor store Heero? Sheesh." Some of the bottles were full, or mostly full, but many looked as if they had been sampled generously. "I think you should stop. Right. Now." Each word was punctuated with Duo trying to take away the bottle from Heero's surprisingly firm grasp.

"When did you get here? Am I at your place?" He looked particularly far- gone. This was bad. Duo had to keep him away from the stereo at all costs.

"No Heero, I'm at yours. You called me, remember?" It was like talking to a child. Only this child was much stronger and faster than he was, even while drunk. Heero went from supine to well across the room before Duo could react. "No, Heero, don't do. . ."

The loud blast of noise from the stereo caught him off guard, and Heero was snapping his fingers and singing along as loudly as possible in his mildly off key baritone before Duo could stop him. "IIII get no kick from champaaaaaagne. . ." Damn him, he knew this would happen and he put the "best of" CD in long before Duo got there. He swore that this was hell, and Heero must be his punishment for not helping Hilde plan the damn menu. As Heero sang into his bottle/microphone, Duo made a lunge for the remote only to find a bottle fly past his ear before he could look up.

"Touch it and die, braid-boy." The loud strains of Sinatra filled their ears unsullied before Heero picked it up again and Duo groaned. Maybe he'd be more reasonable in another hour or so.

It was a half-hour later when Heero went to go to the bathroom, and Duo was finally able to shut of (and unplug) the stereo. There was no way Heero was aware enough to start up that music again, and if he did Duo felt more than ready to take him on. There was only so much a friend could take of bad karaoke. Heero came back, no longer buzzed, and more willing to tell Duo what exactly had brought on this drunk and disorderly display from his normally immaculate best friend. Although, Duo was pretty sure he knew the core reason. As Heero launched into the rambling story, while inspecting a half full bottle of whiskey that Duo confiscated before he got too off track, Duo felt that Heero may just be the stupidest man on the face of the planet when it came to women.

"I can't believe you'd do something so stupid." Duo shook Heero's shoulders a little, as if to rub in his words. "You basically told her she was your property!" A discussion long ago with Hilde about a similar subject flew through his mind, though he had not made quite as large a mess as Heero had.

"Get me some water will you?" Heero looked dazed, but no longer willing to lose himself in the illusion of drunkenness.

"Sure." Duo scrounged around for something in the fridge since he was out there. Finding nothing of interest, he appeared at last with the water.

"So what do I do now? She won't talk to me, and I'd be lucky if she'll ever talk to me again." The water seemed to hold some sort of ancient wisdom, the way Heero gazed into it. Swallowing the last of his pride, he spat it out. "I need help on this."

Realizing the gravity of having Heero ask him for anything, Duo tried to take his soon to be hungover friend seriously rather than gloat mercilessly, as he wished to. "I can't solve this for you, bro. But I can at least buy you a chance to make it up to her. In three weeks, one day, and" he checked his watch. "er. . . some hours, Hilde and I will be in a state of wedded bliss and I know for a fact Relena will come. I'll insist on it. So will Hilde. We've already invited her, her friend Catherine and some Barton guy. Hilde talked to her a while ago apparently when she was finalizing things for the 108th time so there is no way Relena would be as rude as not showing up. That gives you some time to come up with a way to get her to forgive you." Duo thought he was doing a decent thing by not screwing up Heero with his often mostly made up advice.

Heero ran his hands through his hair, pushing it back a little, and then sighed. "Three weeks?" There was more silence as Duo nodded. Gears almost audibly whirred and clicked in Heero's addled brain. Then something seemed to happen and Heero's expression set. "Duo, do me two favors. They will be easy, I promise you."

"Sure."

"First, trust me and don't ask questions."

This sounded suspicious. ". . . o. . .k"

"Second, don't take any more orders for sculptures."

"WHAT?!" Duo leapt up with a yell.

"I'll finish the orders I've started, but other than those three, refuse any new jobs."

"Why the hell should I do that?!" This was Heero's livelihood and to stop like that was artistic suicide, dooming him to fall into obscurity.

"Didn't you promise not to ask questions?"

* * *

Relena clipped a stem a little too close to the top and felt the flower almost dissolve at her touch. It seemed as if work were not nearly as enjoyable these days. What was worse was that she could not mister the focus she needed for it either. Some of it was worry and stress. There was certainly enough of that to spare. Her aching stomach proved how much extra stress she had. All of it could be summed up in one hateful and lovely word: Heero.

When she had stormed out that night she had been really angry, and then fairly embarrassed, but mostly angry. It wasn't that he had been so curt, or so informal, or even so protective. Very little of that bothered her for long. What she had been so mad about was how she thought that his need to protect her had been borne of pity. The thought of being an object of pity again gave her a sick feeling. The one feeling she both craved and loathed was something she had never wanted to see in the man she loved.

For a moment or two pity could sooth a damaged ego, but to base a marriage on it. . . she had felt the horror of it all set in on the car ride back. After going straight home and changing she had gone for a long drive, getting well and truly lost, and a day later showed up at home to about 15 messages on her machine. Even though she hadn't expected it, she knew that she wanted Heero to be one of those messages. Most of them were Catherine and Lucretia, with one from Hilde and one from Dorothy. Even Milliardo had left a short message. No Heero.

A week of fuming and talking long into the night with Catherine about how stupid men were and how barbaric helped her take out most of the steam of her anger. Unfortunately, loss replaced anger and tears gradually worked in between the screams. The man had been infuriating and imbecilic, but in her heart she knew she didn't really want to cut all ties with him like that.

It would have been nice if he had chased after her a little. Maybe if he had just tried once more to talk to her she wouldn't have felt so ill now. Frankly she felt rather responsible for his sudden disappearance. After delivering his last pieces a week ago he had vanished. Not the sort of vanishing that she had done, that took her away for a day to someplace to cool down a little, Heero actually removed himself from the city. His building had been rented out to someone, and with Duo as the owner she could no more easily find Heero through the hapless renters than Duo himself who avowed no knowledge of Heero's whereabouts. There was no phone to reach him at, no forwarding address, and his car had even been sold as well. Except for a computer and some clothes, he appeared to have never been.

Relena asked about the last work of his that he had given to Trowa to give to Sally as a token of apology for ruining the party, (Milliardo also received an apology note, with Lucretia getting a large and rather expensive painting attached to the note and pointedly meant for her). With a gasp and not a few tears, she saw that he had given Trowa the statue of her that he had made a while back. It hurt to think that he had given it away. He had tossed her aside so easily; but then again his sudden absence spoke to a certain amount of distraught emotion. She didn't know what to think. Though, if anyone noted the resemblance between Relena and the statue, it was simply not commented upon to her so she was saved talking of that at least.

A few social occasions were a little catty as Relena was forced to answer questions, or dodge them as the case may be, about "that artist" she had been dating. If she heard one more smug and falsely sympathetic matron talk about how fickle the artistic temperament was she was sure her head would explode from the fake smile plastered on her face going sour. The way they forgot his name so quickly made her sad, or maybe they had never bothered to learn it in the first place. Sometimes she wondered why this was her world when its falseness gave her the urge to run and hide in the countryside.

"Where are you Heero?" She wiped her forehead with a dirty hand and a smudge of dirt smeared it. She turned soil with her spade, trying to work in some new fertilizer when Catherine burst in on her.

"I can't believe you! I knew you would forget. Maybe you just wanted to forget. But I won't let you, I love weddings too much!" As Catherine babbled a little in excitement, Relena took in her nice pastel yellow dress and matching shoes with the blue trim. Oh shit! Duo and Hilde's wedding! She had honestly forgotten it was today.

"Oh no, Cathy, I going to be late aren't I?"

Catherine shook her head and winked. "No you won't, because I'm the best friend in the entire universe and I made sure to come over an hour early. You have an hour missy, and then I'm going to force our much tortured chauffeur Trowa to leave with or without you." Relena went to hug Catherine, before pulling short as she remembered her dirty state.

"I won't let you down, cap'n." Relena gave a little salute as she ran towards the house.

An hour and ten minutes later Relena and Trowa were waiting in the car for Cathy to find her purse. When she ran out of the house, holding it aloft like a trophy, Relena couldn't help but catch some of her enthusiasm.

"Why haven't you ever gotten married Cathy?" The car seemed to swerve a moment, but that could have been her imagination for Trowa was an excellent driver.

"Not sure. I suppose I haven't found the right guy. You can bet when I do, I won't hesitate a second. Somehow I'll just know." Cathy sighed. "But somehow I know that it is silly to think like that. Fate and all that nonsense."

"Yeah. . . fate. Silly." Relena stared out the window, a peculiar half frown reflecting back partially at her. "Why haven't you gotten married Trowa?" Now she was SURE the car had swerved into the other lane.

"No reason." He had paused too long. Both women were suspicious now.

"Oh dearest little brother, that is a blatant lie. And you being a lawyer, I thought you had the whole lying business down." Trowa gave her a somewhat stern look at her joke.

"Tell us Trowa. We swear it won't leave this car. Right Cathy?" Cathy nodded. "Cross our hearts."

"If you don't then I'll start talking about the time you were thirteen and you. . . "

"Fine!" he drowned out Cathy's intriguing threat. ". . . she found someone else. That's why."

The women became dour at this revelation. Cathy was the first to shake it off.

"Then go get her! No man could possibly be better than my brother." Her pride was palpable. In fact, as a rule you could throw rocks of both it and her confidence.

"I'm not the one that can make her happy. You say fate is silly, but these two make me wonder. Now I don't want to talk about it any more." Trowa's gaze caught Relena in the mirror for just a second and she saw something there, but decided it was a trick of the light as he turned his attention back to the road. She had to find Heero. He had to be at the wedding. However, even if he were there, would it be wise to jump back into a relationship with him? She could just be setting herself up for a fall. Then again, the thought of Heero with another woman made her surprisingly jealous. Somehow, she would figure this out.

* * *

Heero paced back and forth, attempting to wear a hole in the carpet, or so someone would think the way he was stomping around and adjusting his tie in a nervous repetitive motion. Duo sat in a chair, not to far away, watching Heero pace with a bored look. His leg was thrown over one arm of the chair despite being in formal wear, and his hands fiddled with the tip of his braid.

"Stop it Heero, I'm supposed to be the nervous one. It's MY wedding day after all." Heero glared to the side and continued to pace. "Listen I'll just go get Relena and bring her in here and then this whole business can be. . . ooof" Duo was pushed back into the chair roughly after taking two steps towards the door.

"Don't." Heero started pacing again. Duo wondered why he put up with this.

"Then I'm just going to sing to myself. It's ok if I do that right?" When no response was forthcoming, Duo began. "It's a quarter to threee..."

"STOP! Fine, I'll go talk to her." Heero felt it was a dirty trick. He wasn't ready for this. When he keeled over from a heart attack then Duo would feel bad about this. As he stepped out of the small room and into the main chapel of the church, he saw a few people milling about or finding seats. A quick survey of these people assured him that Relena was not among them yet. It was a while before the ceremony, and most everyone would be outside still. Shielding his eyes against the nearly blinding sunshine he blinked and began scanning the crowd as efficiently as possible. It was just too crowded. . .

"Heero?" He almost jumped a foot in the air, but instead opted for swallowing the wrong way. The coughing blinded him to the female who had just startled him. As he looked up he carefully made sure his calm expression did not fall in disappointment, as he perceived a vaguely familiar blond woman. "Do you remember me Heero?" He nodded.

"Mrs. Winner." He inclined his head respectfully.

Her smile was a little tired as a small blond child who had a hold on one of her hands went limp in an attempt to be lifted up. Dorothy looked down fondly as the clothes that had been so neat rumpled and stained on the grass.

". . . and it's a new suit too. . ."

"What?" Heero didn't follow the train of thought at all, even if his mind had not been filled with Relena he would have had trouble.

"Never mind. It's good to see you again. I hear things third hand every so often through Duo and then Quatre, but it's good to be able to see things for yourself. I hear that you have stopped doing your work for we society people. Suddenly develop a disgust of us?"

"Develop? No." Dorothy's laugh pealed out. She enjoyed a little spiteful humor now and again. The little boy stood up and his behind his mother.

"Then it is because of a certain blond florist." Heero stiffened and looked ready to bolt. "I have to pry, it's in my nature. I believe you'll find her with Catherine Bloom and Trowa Barton, at that white tent over there." He looked impatient to run off. "And since I just did you a favor, you need to do me one."

He looked warily at her but nodded slightly.

"When you start doing work again, be sure to let me know. I'm always willing to pay ridiculous prices for artistic status symbols." Heero actually smiled a little at that. He got the feeling this woman was pretty canny, actually, and he didn't feel impatient with her company. A tug around his knees alerted him to the blond boy that had released his mother's hand in favor of Heero's trousers. Heero glared at him, hoping to subdue the happy child into letting him go. The boy laughed.

"I'll let you know." Dorothy picked up her little boy and made her way towards where some punch bowls had been set up under a tent. In another direction lay the tent Dorothy had pointed out and, regardless of who or what was in his way; he made a straight path to the location. People felt themselves be rudely pushed aside as a tall, brown haired man pushed forward with a single-mindedness that was almost admirable if it were not also so inconsiderate. When he did see her distinctive locks, he felt suddenly shy and much less purposeful. He had turned to go back when he found Trowa directly in his path. Trowa shook his head, a dark look spreading across his face, and his lips tightened.

"Talk to her."

It was all the encouragement he needed, and his will strengthened. To back down now would be spineless, and worse, he would regret it. Best to seize the moment. As he walked up behind Relena, and stood with a brooding and expectant pause for the person talking to her to stop, eventually their nearly frightened stare caused her to look past her shoulder. With a shock she whirled to face him, her intimidated conversation partner forgotten.

"Relena."

"Heero."

They stared at one another for a moment or two. Then something in Relena went 'poing'.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?" Weeks of concern and frustration and sadness poured into her yell and Heero's eyes went wide as saucers as they became the focus of attention for everyone in hearing range. Relena became conscious of her outburst and ushered them past the tents and behind the church where many people who were doing all the real work were panicking about various things and seemed completely oblivious of the extra two standing off to the side.

"Now, as I was saying, where did you go? Do you know how much I worried?" Her concern made him feel so much better. Expecting the worst, he had thought he would have no chance whatsoever. Now it would be easier to do this. . right? Since she wasn't actually that mad, he felt maybe his plan had not been the best course. In many ways he couldn't stop it now, however.

"Sorry?"

"You better be." Relena felt the anger set in and her stomach began to hurt a bit again. Maybe she should go see a doctor about that. She gave his side a little push. "But that didn't answer my question."

"Oh. Yeah." He didn't seem to be about to continue, and Relena crossed her arms and began to tap her foot a bit. "I quit."

"You quit what?" She looked puzzled more than consternated now.

"Everything. I decided that it was time to let go of it all." His shrug spoke volumes about his detachment. Relena went into shock. Art was Heero's life. How could he just, well, QUIT?

". . . I think you're making a big mistake." She looked almost ready to cry. This was not going well, he had to stop before she got any further with her assumptions.

"I'm not quitting sculpting, Relena. I can tell that's what you think. All I've quit was using a particular medium." Now he'd have to be ridiculously in touch with his emotions and actually talk about it. If only there was another way. "I'm doing it for you. I decided that I'm going to do something I can be proud of, so that maybe you'll be proud of me too. I'm going to move, start out in a new city, and try to make a name for myself."

"Start over?"

"This time as a real artist. Hopefully, some of the connections I've made here will translate over at first so that I can get a show someplace. Then we'll see where it takes me." He put one hand at her cheek; a surprisingly tender gesture. "Even your brother will have to acknowledge me. . . us. By that time, I might even have the guts to propose again." They both looked down at the ground and laughed nervously. Partially it was his words, but partially it was because they were standing on the church's flowers. The talkative moment was over, and Heero felt relieved. He had said his piece, now he just had to wait for her reaction.

"So you're moving away?" She looked thoughtful. Her hands rubbed her arms as if she were cold as she turned away from him.

He cursed his resolve, his flawless plan that now looked full of holes. It was bold as a career move, but he knew that this was what he needed to do. Besides, he had already sold Duo his TV and stereo. His mouth quirked. Maybe he could even get a sense of humor while he was away. He might need it in the ensuing separation from Relena.

Obeying a sudden impulse that he usually stifled, he pulled her in and kissed her hard. "You are all I want. Never doubt that. I will return. It's my promise to you." He kissed her again, this time easing up at the end and pressing something into her palm. "For the future. . ." his breath tickled the hair in her ear and she shivered. As she looked down at the small package he walked away. Ripping the tissue paper away she contemplated his gift. It was obviously an engagement ring, but it was threaded on a long gold necklace. Her fond smile was arrested in its development suddenly.

"You aren't getting away from me that easily! We still have more to discuss Mr. I-Have-To-Be-Dramatic!" Running in heels on gravel is a lot harder than it should be, she thought.


	8. Chapter 8

Catherine gave a long, low whistle as they entered the church with all the other guests. Inspecting the ring like an experienced jeweler she proclaimed it to be in "good taste."

"Not too gaudy but big enough to be impressive." She handed it back, still on its chain. "What organ did he sell to buy it? Hopefully nothing important." The waggling eyebrows were a bit much, Relena felt.

"He just shoved it at me and then disappeared." Her voice was aggravated but her face was gentle. "Really, the nerve of it all!"

"He's got nerve in spades, I agree. I mean, how dare he be devoted to winning your hand in marriage. What a cad!" Catherine beat one hand to her breast and sigh in a long-suffering manner. "If only I had someone so irritating. Now stop whining and let's sit down. Trowa! Stop dragging your heels!" Pulling her brother up next to them, the three slid into one of the middle pews.

Heero, as best man, stood in front next to Duo with a back so stiff he could have been molded from stone.

"At ease soldier." Duo said out of the corner of his mouth. "You are supposed to help me, not make me even more nervous than I already am."

"I can't help it." Heero hissed. "I can see her. She's looking straight at me." Duo waved at Relena, and she waved back. Heero had the sudden urge to break Duo's arm, but decided against it for Hilde's sake.

"So you asked her. . . well? How did it go?"

It was as if all their eyes bored into him. Heero hated being in front of large groups of people with nothing to hide behind. Duo's questions were far away, like an inquisitor behind a hot lamp. Was he answering? His lips appeared to be moving. Damn it all.

"I told her I was moving and I shoved the ring at her. And then I ran away."

"Coward!" Some of the guests stared at them, who were sitting in the front row. Both young men gave nervous smiles and Duo lowered his voice. "You can't leave it like that. The first sign of trouble and you go back to your self-determined isolation. This is crap. You know you don't have to leave."

"Yes I do!" Too loud, again the stares. After a quick gulp and adjusting of his collar Heero then shook a finger in Duo's direction. "I've had it so easy here. This will be a real test of my talent. No more constraints. No more coddling from you or your little society friends. I have my own connections and I'll do this my own way. You know you can't stop me."

By now the fact that the groom and the best man looked like they were seconds away from a fistfight had caught the subtle attention of much of the first six pews on either side of the church. A smiling little priest walked up and stood right next to the men who were now nose to nose.

"Are you ready, my sons?" His mildly myopic visage did much to snap the friends out of their quarrel. Duo already knew that he couldn't get Heero to stay. What he was doing was as much to prove something to himself as it was an attempt to win over Relena. "Excellent. Now, take your places. I've done this more times then I can count, oh my yes, and I know how you young people get, your nerves all frazzled."

Heero and Duo looked at one another as if to say to one another 'what's up with this crazy old man?' Duo cracked a smile as well, and the tension broke entirely between the two of them. With a nod, Heero took his place, trying to look less stiff than he felt. The music began and the focus drifted away from them to a vision at the back of the church.

Hilde had never looked so beautiful. . . . and Duo had never looked so scared. The priest beamed at no one in particular, and Heero wondered when he would be in Duo's spot with Relena coming up that aisle. His lips pressed together with renewed determination. Things would work out if for no other reason than because he would make them.

* * *

Relena managed to corner Heero at the reception. For such a large, muscular, imposing man to cower when caught by the slim object of his affection was humorous in extremes and Catherine wished she had a camera moments before slipping away to find some of the champagne that was flowing so freely.

"Oh hello, Relena." Somehow he managed to be nonchalant.

"Ha! I've got you now. You HAVE to talk to me." She had made sure that there was no where to run this time except right through her. She'd tackle him of she had to, to make sure he stayed put for this. Heero waited in silence. "Now explain the motives of your plan to me again."

"I have been thinking, ever since you showed me those pictures in your photo album that you were right." Relena started a bit at this. "It's a shame that nothing I make is permanent. When I die, there will be nothing to appreciate in value. In truth, there will be nothing. I will have been a zero to the world." He took a breath. All that time standing there, waiting for the whole ceremony thing to get over with, he had done some thinking about what he was going to say to Relena. He had a feeling things would play out like this, as what with her temperament, she would obviously want to talk more.

"So, you're just doing this to be remembered?" That didn't sound like the Heero she knew.

"No. In some ways yes, but what's more important to me is to leave an impact. I wasn't doing that here. A few people may have admired my work, but only someone like you really looked at it. Just as no one really saw me, my work was similarly invisible." This next bit made him feel a little shy and ashamed of himself, but he had to add it. "I want you to see what's really me. Then I will feel as if I have earned the right to propose again." It was possible he was blushing. The impatient hand that brushed through his hair also obscured his face.

"It was just too fast. I wasn't ready, Heero." She wanted to give excuses. Her hand itched her arm nervously.

"By the time I feel I would have earned a second chance, maybe you'll think differently." He started to move past her but she grabbed his arm.

"You can't just disappear and expect me to wait, can you? I'm not going to be jerked around, Heero." She was scared. At this point she wanted to do anything to make him stay, but knew that it would be unfair of her to insist upon it. No one said love was reasonable.

Heero seemed to understand what she was trying to do, and his wary smile became robust all of a sudden. With an uncharacteristically robust laugh, he pulled her in and kissed her full on the mouth. A large flash of light caught them both off guard. Looking over into the smiling faces of both the photographer and a very pleased Catherine, Relena wondered if she should get mad or ask for doubles.

"You'll hear from me, never worry." And almost as an afterthought. "I love you."

Relena indulged in that lovely melty feeling for a moment before descending onto Catherine like a demon.

"And how did you think getting the wedding photographer to capture one of the most excruciatingly emotional moments in my life was a good thing?!" Definitely ask for doubles, she decided silently in her mind.

"Whoa, there!" Catherine backed away quickly. "Not to change the subject at all but look, there's Trowa! Put your shirt back on!"

"Your distraction tactics may work on lesser minds, but I'm not that simple. Besides, I've known you too long." Now she was feeling more playful.

"Eeep!" Catherine took off as fast as her heels could carry her (i.e. not that fast) followed by Relena who grabbed a piece of newly cut cake. This was by far the best wedding she had ever been to, Relena decided.

* * *

Heero was true to his word. He did keep in touch. Unfortunately for Relena, he kept in touch in a very Heero-ish manner. At first there were the e-mails, that lasted through much of fall. Once a week she would get a message. After two weeks she could predict exactly what the gist of them would be:

Doing fine. Busy with work. Thinking of you.

~H

Apparently his talkativeness at Duo and Hilde's wedding was not a permanent change.

What made things even more aggravating was not knowing where he had gone. She called friends in every major city across the country and asked if they knew a Heero Yuy. None of them could tell her anything. Of course, Heero was terribly good at not being found when he didn't want to be. Duo and Hilde (once they returned from their honeymoon) reassured her on this point. She was spending more time with the couple as a whole. Catherine and Trowa were around as well, and Duo tried his hardest to fix the quiet young man up with women until Trowa threatened never to speak to any of them again. Catherine took up the cause instead and, faced with the awesome power of his sister on a mission, countered by setting her up with a lawyer friend of his.

Catherine disappeared for a week after her second date with the man, only to call from Vegas at the end of that week to tell Relena to congratulate her on her wedding. Trowa was still recovering from the shock, saying it had been Sally who had suggested the lawyer in question and insisting on blaming her for the sudden loss of his sister.

Sally just laughed at him.

Meanwhile, fall ended and winter began to set in with its chill and even some snow. Christmas was so close, and Relena couldn't help but feel a little lonely. It was true there were gads of parties she was invited to and many people whom she loved that were expecting her presence, but even the thought of becoming an aunt (something that Milliardo had felt the need to call and tell her about as soon as he found out. . . at 2am on Sunday night) could not entirely erase the blues at not having some special. A very particular someone, in fact.

Catherine welcomed Relena into her house with a big hug. She had moved into her new husband's apartment and they were hosting a Christmas party, an early one, for all their friends. Relena liked Catherine's husband and felt he was a funny man with the same wicked sense of fun that Catherine enjoyed. They would bicker and play pranks on one another and then kiss and make googly eyes at one another. Trowa, who had arrived a while before, looked ready to gag. Although she hadn't experienced as much of this behavior as he had, Relena was starting to feel inclined to do the same. Ah well, she wasn't going to burst their bubble and neither was Trowa, so long as Cathy was happy.

Duo and Hilde came up and gave Relena a hug, commenting on how cold she was and how, with all her money she should buy a better coat. Somehow, they had already turned into an old married couple when her back was turned. Trowa seemed to understand her sad smile, being another one of the very few single people invited and offered her some egg nog.

"A few glasses of this and you'll feel warm and quite complacent with all their condescending comments." Relena coughed a little after taking a sip.

"Any egg nog in it?"

"Just enough for coloring." Wufei, who had just arrived with Sally, immediately moved to where Relena and Trowa were. He was not comfortable at things like these, but for some reason he had said yes when Sally had asked him to come with. It was hard for him to say no, when it came to Sally.

"Peacecraft. Barton." They each got a nod. Pretty friendly, coming from Wufei.

"How are you doing Wufei?" Relena thought it would be a safe enough question. The immediate grimace and widening of the eyes, accompanied by a snort proved her to be wrong.

"What kind of a question is that? If I answer honestly I am being to straightforward, if I say 'fine' I would be lying, and if I don't answer then I am being rude. A woman's ploy to force conversation. . ."

As if she had some sort of radar for these things, Sally's voice called out across the room. "Don't be rude, Wufei!" He grumbled and accepted a glass of the infamous eggnog from Trowa. More people filed into the small apartment, which was rapidly becoming much warmer than Relena cared to be. Finally pinpointing the sliding door leading to the small balcony behind some curtains, Relena escaped into the cold and let it ooze into her again. The party sounded far away as people laughed and talked, with carols playing in the background. Some things would never change, and Christmas parties had to be one of them. Yet, even with all the comfort, the sigh that escaped her lips was inevitable.

"I thought I'd find you here." Relena gave a start, taking in Dorothy's smirking form.

"Things are really picking up in there. I'm just getting my second wind."

"I thought you were trying to recover from the egg nog."

"That too." They stood in silence for a little while, both of them looking out at the blinking lights of the city. Car horns blared in the distance. Someone down on the street was dragging a tree up some stairs. The night was clear, making it all the more frosty.

"Seems to me that you seem a little down. With so much joyous news these days as well as being surrounded by your friends at a party, it makes one wonder as to the cause." Even Dorothy's shrewd eyes could be kind.

"It's been almost half a year. Half a year is a long time to wait. Heero isn't exactly the warmest or most verbose of correspondents." She leaned on the railing, facing away from the street and looked up into the sky, mostly obscured by the light of the city.

"Yet, you still wait."

"Yeah, I still wait. I guess I really do have faith in the big lug."

Dorothy looked decided and handed Relena a piece of paper. "Think of it as an early Christmas gift from me. It's for being such a good person. More patient than I could ever be. I just went after Quatre." She chuckled at the memory. "He didn't stand a chance against me." Walking back into the chaos, she left Relena to her thoughts.

Opening the paper, Relena saw an address. She thought of what Dorothy had said and smiled. It was well and good to be the princess waiting in a tower, but it was time to take things into her own hands. Duo stuck his head out onto the balcony between the curtains.

"Quick! You HAVE to come in here. Wufei had like 7 glasses of that punch and he's confessing his undying love to Sally. Oh, and your brother is already passed out on the couch and Lu is so mad she's threatening to cut off his hair! C'mon Rel, you're missing EVERYTHING!" His face disappeared again.

Stuffing the paper in her pocket, Relena ran inside. She had to stop Lucretia, or else her merry little world would be a lot less merry for a good long while.

* * *

Heero contemplated the present. It wasn't expensive because he didn't have much money, but he was sure she'd like it. Things were only just taking off for him here. There were a few shows where his pieces were already being displayed and he was making arrangements to have a show of just entirely his work soon. The first three or four months had been solidly devoted to the creation of pieces, so he felt his progress was very good indeed. He had gotten a lot of help from his old mentor Odin Lowe, which was one of the main reasons he had chosen this particular location. Lowe knew people, and Heero was not the same impatient asshole upstart he had been in art school when Lowe had taught him. Now he was much more patient.

All in all, things were on schedule. The only real problem with the gift was how to transport it. He should have thought better of it before he made it. More the fool he. It was two days before Christmas after all, and he should have had this taken care of long ago. There was a knock at the door. He ignored it. The person kept banging harder, more insistently. Crossing the floor of his loft, he crossly opened the door.

"What?" Death glare already molded to his face, he was ready to get rid of anyone so audacious as to disturb him when he said he didn't take callers when he was working.

"I just thought you'd like a surprise. Something told me you'd probably be alone. I thought we might be able to be alone together." Messy but cheerful, Relena clutched at the heavy bag at her side. "I'm so bad at choosing what to pack. A little help maybe?" Heero woodenly picked up her bag, wondering if maybe he had passed out and this was some sort of dream.

"Snuh." The nonsensical syllable was all he managed to get out. Relena stripped her coat from her body and began releasing her hair from the messy braids she had plaited them into.

"Flying around Christmas is just murder. The prices I paid to get a flight were worse than murder, even with people pulling strings to get me tickets. I feel like I was in that airport for days and days." Relena, rosy and cheerful, stood there in his cold loft and held out her arms for a hug. "Well? Aren't you going to welcome me properly?"

He hesitated a nanosecond, and then he was buried in her warmth and tasting her lips like he had only done in his dreams for the past months. Maybe this was a dream too.

"Ow!" Relena pushed him away and then rubbed the spot on her behind that he had pinched.

"It could have been a dream." Heero smiled.

"Traditionally, you pinch yourself, not the other person. I get my turn now." Heero backed away, and when she pursued, pinned her arms behind her back. "Not fair!" They struggled for a while until Relena kissed him. After a few moments Heero let go of her arms to place his hands on more interesting spots, but Relena wasn't about to let things go that fast. For one thing she had terrible jet lag.

"Wait a moment there," It was hard to stop someone who was placing kisses down her neck in such a convincing manner. "I have to give you something first." She pulled away and rummaged around in her bag. "You wouldn't believe how many different ways they checked this thing in security. Finally I got them to realize it was just a picture in a frame and not some sort of bomb." The memory both frustrated and amused her. "I just couldn't check it. It might have broken."

It was them kissing from Duo and Hilde's wedding. A surprisingly attractive picture of them both. Sweet too. Heero cleared a space on top of a shelf, displacing tools of various sorts, and gave it a place of honor. Relena was pleased that her gift was so well accepted.

"How?"

"How did I find you?" Heero nodded. "Dorothy."

"Ah." He should have guessed. Only Dorothy knew where he was directly, and that was only because he had promised her. Next time he wouldn't make any such promise, no matter how indebted he was to someone. He focused in on Relena again, away from his wandering thoughts. "I have a present for you too." In fact, this solved his transportation problem. Excellent.

Leading Relena over, she was both delighted and shocked to find a statue made from clay. It bore a shocking resemblance to the one he had done of her in ice. Some details were changed and maybe even more elaborate, but it was essentially the same piece, only maybe about half the size of the original.

"Wire frame with clay on the outside. It came out pretty well." It came out perfectly and he knew it. But he wanted to be modest because the way her eyes sparkled said it all about how much Relena was going to gush over this.

Turning to face him, Relena gave Heero an intense look to rival his own and began to strip. Heero's brain went blank and he tried to take in this new development. She was down to her bra and panties and starting to work on his belt when he remembered his muscles could move too. Before they descended into a completely unthinking blur of bodies, Heero had to ask something.

"How come you didn't do this when you saw the first statue?" Relena paused a moment.

"Ever try having sex in a freezer?" Heero shook his head. "Well I didn't want to either."

* * *

"I'm going home after New Year's. Just thought you'd like to know. I'm sure you're going to be busy." They were getting ready to go out to a store. Relena wasn't about to have microwave dinners as a Christmas feast. She wasn't the greatest chef in the world, but she had found some recipes for things over the internet. It would work out.

"Hn." He didn't want her to go, but she was an undeniable distraction. He pulled a hat down over his untamable hair. They were about to leave, when Relena tugged off her gloves and ran over to her bag.

"I almost forgot something." She pulled out a box and from the box the necklace with the ring on it. Extracting the ring she slipped it on her left ring finger. "Don't want anyone thinking I'm single, now do I?"

Heero strode over and caught her up in a crushing hug. "Does this mean you'll marry me, Relena?"

"Yes." She wheezed, due to her tight confines. Heero loosened up a little. "Yes." She quickly brushed a tear out of her eye before he could see it. He took her hand in his and they made their way out into the cold morning air.

"Merry Christmas Heero." Relena said as she threaded her arm into his.

"Yes, I think it will be." For the first time in many months, Heero felt at peace with the world. For the first time in his life, he had faith it would stay that way.


End file.
